Cartside House, 3/7 Clarkston Road, Cathcart, Glasgow, 0141 560 3898
Style: Contemporary chic
Food: Italian casual
Price: £25 per person for three courses
Wheelchair access: Yes

The wine bar. One-time habitat of what we used to call yuppies, where pints were swapped for the latest in sophisticated drinking - large glasses of dubious quality chardonnay. Bulging Filofaxes and brick-sized mobile phones at the ready, the wine bar environment was ripe for mockery, a chance seized upon by John Sullivan in Only Fools and Horses.

Peckham wide-boy Del Boy summed up the divide between those who belong in a the traditional boozer and the supposed sophisticates of the wine bar world when, dressed the part for his foray into this yuppie netherworld, he went downwardly mobile through an open hatch at the bar while ogling a couple of upwardly mobile City girls. Back to the Nag's Head for him.

Time moves on. I must be the only person in the UK still using a Filofax (I just can't kick that pen and paper habit), but at least the phones are actually mobile nowadays and no-one wears blue shirts with white collars any more, or even drinks much chardonnay. I think.

Most of us can even walk into a wine bar without feeling, as Del Boy might have put it, like a plonker.Thankfully, there's nothing the least bit pretentious about the new wine bar at Barbarossa, the Italian-Scottish restaurant in Cathcart on Glasgow's south side.

The bar is housed in an airy extension built on to the rear of the existing space. It's in keeping with the sleek style of the adjoining restaurant, finished in dark wood and exposed brick work, but giving customers a relaxed sense of space and comfort.

The wine bar is open during the day for coffee and pastries, or you can come for a drink or something more substantial throughout the evening. It has its own menu of what owner Enzo Longo describes as classical Italian casual food, including antipasti, bruschetta, a range of salads and freshly-prepared pasta dishes, as well as a selection of seafood and grilled meats. The wine bar chef even went to Italy for a week to learn how to make pasta properly. The emphasis is on freshness, simplicity and speed - dishes arrive quickly, they are straightforward, but are packed with flavour.

On our visit, we start with grilled prawns, fat and juicy and served with a crisp cos lettuce, cherry tomatoes and a light champagne butter sauce. The portion of parmigiana with aubergine is just right, giving me a good taste of a beautifully-prepared pasta without filling me up too much.

For mains, I go for the salsiccia, grilled Italian sausage served with sautéed potatoes and a white wine sauce. This is a deceptively simple dish, but packed with a distinctive flavour, thanks to the specially-sourced sausages. Mrs G's swordfish steak is perfectly grilled, retaining its juiciness and served with a simple green bean and olive salad.

For desserts, we decide to try the torta della nonna, an almond-flavoured torte with vanilla ice cream, which is splendid, and an affogato, three scoops of vanilla "drowned" with a double shot of espresso.

Then there's the wine list - it is a wine bar, after all. Enzo's passion for wine shines through, and it's something which he's clearly passing on to his son, Francesco, who is running the wine bar side of Barbarossa's operations and who has recently returned from an educational tour around Campagna, near Naples, and Sicily.

All the wines have been hand-picked, and as you might expect, the list favours Italian vineyards, but the selection is extensive and includes many which you won't find anywhere else in the city, or the country. If you're looking for a recommendation, Enzo and Francesco will be happy to oblige.

And judging by the cucumber martini and the amaretto sour which Francesco himself mixed, the wine bar's cocktails are also worth visiting for.

Just leave the Filofax - along with the preconceptions - at home.