There is a cafe on Newlands Road where almost everything is small.
The seating area is dainty, the kitchen too. Come to mention it, even the delicately printed menus are tiny.
But the one thing that the team at the Real Wan go relentlessly big on? Flavour.
From thick and spicy noodles coated in a sizzling garlic sauce to sticky Chinese caramel pork ribs, there's nowhere else quite like it.
This is of course the work of chef Lea Wu, 33, who opened the cafe in October of 2020 with one goal in mind, to bring a real taste of authentic Chinese food to the people of Glasgow.
She said: “I had been thinking about opening the somewhere for years, ever since I moved to Glasgow in 2015.
“I made food for my friends all the time and they would tell me that they loved it but to me, the idea of selling it to others still felt risky.
“It’s not the typical kind of Chinese food you’ll find in the UK, so I worried that people wouldn’t warm to it.
“But, on the very first day we opened, there were people queuing down the street”
What separates Lea’s cooking from your usual rice and curry sauce affair found all over Glasgow is a childhood home that she has kept close to heart, despite now living half a world away.
Growing up in the city of Guiyang in the South West of China, she learned from a young age what good food truly means.
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Lea said: “I think I really started the shop because I was missing the food that I grew up with.
“All over China street food is a big thing, but the type of cooking style differs between each province.
“Where I’m from, we like things spicy.
“The markets will set up by the river anytime after six or seven, right outside the doors to all the pubs.
“You can even order your food to be delivered inside from a stall while you drink.
“I remember when I moved here, I couldn’t understand how people could be drinking without eating.”
Another benefit of growing up surrounded by a culture where food is highly revered is the inherent belief that if something is worth doing, it’s worth doing right.
Lea said: “Everything is done on such a small scale.
“You have stalls that specialise in only one thing like dumplings or noodles.
“And then on top of that, they might only serve one type of noodle that their family has been making for generations.
“Barbecue is a big thing too and chefs will catch shrimp or prawns to throw straight on the grill when night falls.
“That’s the kind of culture I grew up with, so I know that you shouldn’t assume that food has to come from a fancy restaurant to be tasty.
“There is so much competition that if you want to open a stall there, no matter what size it is, you have to take your food seriously.”
With all that in mind, it’s understandable that sharing her culinary heritage with a Glasgow audience would be daunting for Lea, and the situation wasn’t helped by lockdown restrictions initially limiting them to takeaway only service.
But, as it turns out, there was no need to worry.
She said: “The very first customer who came through our doors brought a box of chocolates to say welcome to the neighbourhood.
“Our menu is small, so we make sure everything that’s on there is unique try to talk our customers through it so that we know they will enjoy the food.
“But on that first day, they said: ‘We already know what we’re having, we’ve been looking at your menu online for weeks and waiting for you to open.
“It was so nice to finally be able to meet the people who had supported us through lockdown in person.
“They are all so sweet.”
With the Southside community on her side, there’s no stopping Lea and her team who are now planning a full refurbishment that, amongst other surprises, will see an authentic market-style barbecue grill added to their arsenal.
Opening the Real Wan might have felt like a risk at first, but there’s no denying that they have brought something special to the neighbourhood.
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Lea said: “Because the shop is so small, and we have an open kitchen I get the chance to chat to people or serve them myself.
“Sometimes, when I see people eating the food I grew up with at our tables, it almost feels like I’ve brought my whole home city here.”
The Real Wan is located at 134 Newlands Road, Glasgow.
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