Heart is all about quality and choice, friendly, knowledgeable staff and great value for money. We source and sell the best food available in Europe in a friendly, unpretentious environment. Food is a passion for us - plenty of people can sell you food, but we know that nobody will be able to do it with quite the same enthusiasm. Emphasis is placed on the provenance of the ingredients stocked, because it is a product's origin that influences its quality and taste (ie salt-marsh lamb, Scottish new potatoes, Uist langoustine, Ma Mackinnon's jams). A lot of effort is put into sourcing the produce direct from the suppliers in order to maintain quality and a competitive pricing policy. The big idea is that you can take home to eat and enjoy with your loved ones. Much better than being frazzled over a hot stove. Most of the dishes on the menu start to arrive from the kitchen just after lunch, around 2 or 3pm. If you want to collect something earlier than that, please give us a ring the day before and we can sort it out for you. Venus in the Kitchen When the model that stood for the original sculpture of Venus was staying at an inn, around the corner from the artist, everybody in the inn fell for her extraordinary beauty. None more dizzyingly so than the innkeeper. Unable to help himself, and unable to approach her (probably urged on by the punters down in the bar), he sneaked upstairs to her room. He peeked through the keyhole to catch a glimpse of her undressing. When he came downstairs again the punters clamoured to hear what he saw. But he was in love, he couldn't tell them. Silently he sought to recapture the memory of her in his kitchen and he created Tortelloni - plump, exquisitely full and nipped in at the ends. This is the shape of her tummy button. This is a true story. We sell handmade tortelloni in Heart Buchanan stuffed full of Pumpkin and Nutmeg, or Porcini, or Lobster with Herbs and Ricotta. We love it. A lot of people ask why we have a sculpture of Venus in our window. She's our lucky mascot... she gazes at the flurried, hurried passers-by and smiles. She watches over the shop when we are all at home in bed. I managed to find her in a junk shop in New York when I was there with my little sister on my first Deli Recce. Stupidly, I purchased her at the beginning of a long day trotting from Dean and Delucca to Balducci's. My rucksack was small but we rigged up a way of carrying her that involved her head sticking proudly out of the top of the bag on my back... and a roll of gaffer tape acting as a type of seatbelt. It was easy to see that everybody loved her as much as I did. She was part of the recce and now she is part of the shop. There is an odd little book, mentioned in An Omelette and a Glass of Wine by Elizabeth David, called Venus in the Kitchen. I confess I have never read the book but the idea of Venus, the goddess of love, being in the kitchen sits very well with my view of things. If ever there was a place of love, a place that "dries the socks and cools the hot little brain" - according to MK Fisher - it is my kitchen. That is how it is for Heart Buchanan. p.s. Carrying a big lump of plaster around New York isn't wise.
	Heart Buchanan 380 Byres Road, Glasgow T: 0141 334 7626 E: heartbuchanan@gmail.com Hours: Mon-Fri 8.30am-9.30pm; Sat 9am-9.30pm; Sun 12-7pm