Owner of Loop & Scoop ice-cream and churro bar, Calvin Kayes, does our Flavour Profile Q&A

The owner of this churro and ice-cream bar tells us about his love of tomatoes, fillet steak and Halloween

What’s your favourite ingredient?

Tomatoes. I’d suggest always going for the best quality you can get for maximum flavour. We make a lot of Italian dishes at home so fresh and tinned tomatoes are a store cupboard essential for us. Also I have to mention Biscoff. It makes everything better. It's one of our most requested ingredients at Loop & Scoop and appears as a gelato and in a dipping sauce.

Do you have a guilty food pleasure?

Calvin Kayes

It has to be pizza. It’s my ultimate treat meal and we are really spoiled in Glasgow with some great pizza places and loads of great artisanal pop-ups coming onto the scene too. That’s one of the great things about Glasgow, we have a wealth of amazing quality food brands doing really cool things. I loved seeing how businesses managed to innovate and pivot their offerings during lockdown. Enjoying food and treating ourselves a little more than normal was something I think we all enjoyed during our time at home.

Tell us about your first food memory

I have great memories of Halloween and making toffee apples as a kid. Halloween is still a big thing in our house. My daughters are at the perfect age to really enjoy it and we go all out at Loop & Scoop to celebrate it too.

What’s your favourite Scottish restaurant, deli or cafe?

My favourite restaurant is Caprese Don Costanzo on Glasgow’s Woodside Crescent, as it serves consistently great food and has a warm and welcoming atmosphere. It’s so family friendly and a real Glasgow institution and every time I visit I’m reminded why it’s so popular.

What would be your last supper?

It’d be bang bang shrimp followed by a fillet steak.

Starter or pudding?

Believe it or not, I’d go for a starter and steak tartare is a favourite dish of mine. It’s something I would never make at home so it’s a great one to order when I’m out for dinner and always feels like a bit of an indulgence.

Do you have any food hates?

Hold the coriander. In my opinion, that ingredient ruins every dish.

What starters, main and dessert would be served at your dream dinner party and who would you invite?

I’d go for scallops for our starter. These would be followed by a main course of fillet steak and pudding would be helpings of Cartmel Sticky Toffee Pudding with ice cream on the side. I would stick with crowd pleasing classics with maximum flavour. Guest list wise, it’d be close friends and family always.

What's your favourite geographical foodie destination?

Italy without a doubt. It's the home of good cooking and I have so many amazing food memories from holidays I’ve taken to the country. Whenever I can take some time off I can't wait to go back.

Loop & Scoop, 665 Great Western Road, Glasgow, www.loopandscoop.com

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