Glasgow Update

The city’s Victorian heritage is well-preserved in its central district, where decades worth of grit and grime have been scoured away.

Once the sadly neglected relic of a rich industrial past, Glasgow is now a thriving center of culture.

Zaha Hadid’s brand-new Riverside Museum is the latest addition to a constellation of galleries anchored by the famous Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, one of Europe’s great collections. The city’s Victorian heritage is also well-preserved in its central district, where decades worth of grit and grime have been scoured away.

A lively restaurant scene reflects renewed interest in the traditional Scottish larder. The spot that has won the most praise is Two Fat Ladies at The Buttery  (652-654 Argyle Street—the name has no connection to the Rubensesque cooking show duo). In a warm interior filled with stained glass and oak paneling, look for starters such as a razor clam risotto seasoned with a zip of chorizo, or one of my Scottish favorites, Cullen Skink, a rich soup made with smoked haddock, potatoes and onions. Main courses might include a delicately seared lemon sole with baby capers and chervil butter, and seared diver scallops with Stornoway black pudding.

To my mind, Stravaigin (28 Gibson Street) is the closest thing to a modern gastropub in Glasgow, making it a good choice for a more casual meal. Delicious main courses here include a pan-fried mullet fillet with a brown shrimp and asparagus risotto, and a grilled Scottish rump steak with béarnaise and fries.

While the beautiful art deco interior of Rogano (11 Exchange Place) has recently been freshened up, the essential charm of Glasgow’s oldest surviving restaurant endures. The Oyster Bar is a tempting spot for lunch—I prefer them raw, but they can also be prepared à la Rockefeller or with a Mornay sauce and grated cheese. In the restaurant proper, you can choose from langoustines grilled with garlic butter, Lobster Thermidor (or grilled with a béarnaise sauce) or a fine filet of Scottish beef.

My favorite hotel in Glasgow has long been One Devonshire Gardens, now the Hotel du Vin at One Devonshire Gardens. My only reservation about the property is its location, in an outlying residential neighborhood roughly 10 minutes by car from the center of town. With that in mind, I booked a room at the new, centrally located Blythswood Square, set in the elegant former home of the Royal Scottish Automobile Club.

Great care has gone into restoring the beautiful public rooms, and the restaurant was excellent, but unfortunately, the hotel was felled by poor service. Simply put, there wasn’t enough staff. No one helped us with our baggage upon arrival, and at the restaurant even the hostess was scrambling to keep track of orders. Until Blythswood invests in service (as Adrian Zecha of Amanresorts so deftly puts it, “the software to a hotel’s hardware”), the Hotel du Vin at One Devonshire Gardens remains my recommended hotel in Glasgow.