The Restaurant at the Blythswood Square (Hotel)

While staying for 1 night in September 2016 at the Blythswood Square Hotel in Glasgow we went to dinner at The Restaurant, their style-driven yet elegant eatery.

Like the Sands Grill at the Old Course Hotel, Spa & Golf Resort, The Restaurant offered a Market Menu at a good value.

Both the hotel and the restaurant were glamourous. There were for example huge lampshades and inside were different classic cars printed which reminded us about their heritage.

The friendly and attentive staff took good care of us.

The only thing we didn't like that much was that in the middle of the meal the light was suddenly so much dimmed we barely could see what we were eating. While a more romantic atmosphere can be indeed achieved with dimming the lights, but when it's too dark it can get slightly annoying. Otherwise we enjoyed our dinner very much.

We ordered one bottle of still Strathmore water, a Bumbo Cocktail - it was inspired by adventures while travelling to exotic countries around 100 to 200 years ago -, a glass of the Champagne of the month, in this case Baron de Villeboerg Brut NV, two hot chocolates, two mackerel pate with chorizo, salad and bread disc, two butternut squash tortelloni with soya butter and micro herbs, one S'mores cheese cake and one plum frangipane.

All was delicious, modern and very nicely presented as expected from such an upscale venue.

The bill was 81.70 GBP (ca. 92.30 Euro / ca. 105.30 USD).

We would return and try their new restaurant offerings since the Blythswood Square has has/will join the Principal Hotel Collection which should further enhance the appeal of this beautiful landmark hotel in the heart of Glasgow.


©2017

Blythswood Square (Hotel) Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom

When my fiancé and I planned our visit to Scotland in September 2016 we had one night [before our flight] in Glasgow [after our arrival from St. Andrews] and had to decide where we wanted to stay. We had heard many good things on Trip Advisor and according to Flyer Talk from the info we've gathered The Blythswood Square counts as the best hotel in the city in terms of luxury, service, style and location, so we decided to give it a try and booked the entrance category room, a Standard Room incl. breakfast.

The history of the square and the hotel are interesting, which fits with the whole line up of hotels during our holiday.

We stayed earlier at the Indigo Glasgow, which was the first power station of the city and the Old Course Hotel, an icon in St. Andrews. Please see the reviews for those.

The Blythswood Square is located in the Blythswood Hill area of Glasgow. It was one of the earliest residential developments in the western part of the city, dating back to plans in the 1790s by the architect James Gillespie Graham. The owner of the land was William Harley, a cotton merchant.

 

The grid-iron street system used in George's Square and Blythswood Hill was taken on by Glasgow Town Council for further development and spread to the United States.

Four Georgian terraces form the square and all buildings are Category A listed. In the middle is a garden, which opens during summer at lunch time to the public.

A scandal involving the square was the murder trial of Madeleine Smith, daughter of a leading architect, in the 1850s, who lived in one of the houses. She was suspected of killing her lover by poisoning him. The verdict was not guilty, but it caused quite a stir within Scottish society and was written about in the book "Square Mile of Murder" by Jack House over 100 years later.

The Blythswood Square Hotel took over the building from the Royal Scottish Automobile Club and opened in 2009.

The hotel is just ca. 10 minutes’ walk from Buchanan Street Bus Station and was easy to find.

The large lobby follows a car/racing theme and has some modern artwork, but is overall classic. There is a beautiful chandelier above the stair case leading to the glamorous bar.

At check in we were warmly welcomed and the formalities were quickly done with. We were advised we were upgraded to a Superior Room, which was slightly larger and had a sofa in front of the bed.

We were accompanied to our room and it was a good thing, because the key card didn't work, so the employee went to reception twice to have them rekeyed, realizing it hadn't anything to do with the cards, an engineer was sent to repair the card reader instead. 

While we waited for the engineer we were shown the room and explained the features.

The Superior Room was medium sized with the most dominating color black. Added color splashes were dark brown, red and white. It had a residential feel, supported by the wood used.

The king size bed was comfortable. Above the bed was artwork about the Monte Carlo Rally, integrating the building's association with the RSAC.

The room overlooked the courtyard and was quiet.

There was a large desk with a flat screen TV with 40 mostly regional and some international channels like NHK, Rai, Dubai Sport, France 24 and Al Arabia. There were also magazines (Welcome to Glasgow and the Clyde Valley, This is Glasgow, Edinburgh Festival Guide 2016, The List Glasgow, Scotland and North East England Art Magazine, Foodies and I-On).

In front of the sofa was a small table and a small writing desk was beside the bed.

There was also a Yale safe, two wardrobes, a luggage rack and a mini bar. Storage space was okay, but it isn't suitable for longer stays due to space constrains.

The mini bar included Strathmore water, Capri Sun, Irn Bru, St. Mungo's Beer, Johnny Walker Black Label and much more. Prices ranged from 1.75 GBP to 2.75 GBP (ca. 2 Euro to ca. 3.15 Euro / ca. 2.30 USD to ca. 3.55 USD) for the soft drinks and 4.50 GBP to 7.50 GBP (ca. 5.10 Euro to ca. 8.47 Euro  / ca. 5.85 USD to ca. 9.70 USD) for all alcoholic beverages.

Tea/coffee making facilities were available too and the brand used was Brodies, Edinburgh. 

The complimentary offered WIFI was fast and reliable throughout the hotel.

Turn down service was provided, but didn't include any gifts and arrived too early, since we were at check in asked when we would like to have it done, as we had requested earlier a different time. 

The bathroom was large and completely in beautiful black marble. A window gave views into the room. It could be closed with a shutter for more privacy.

There was a sink, separate bath tub and shower, a set-up which we enjoyed. The amenities were by Neal's Yard, a first for us, and which we liked.

Breakfast, which was included in our rate, was served at the Restaurant. Hot items could be ordered from the a la carte menu, while the cold items were served buffet style. The presentation was upscale and the choice was very good, ranging from Serrano Ham and other cold cuts to olives, tomatoes, nuts, fresh and dried fruits, cereals, porridge with cream and 12 year old Glenfiddich Whisky and much more. Memorable quality IMHO.

We ordered the Eggs Benedict and the avocado toast with salmon. The portion sizes were generous. Only the salmon could have been slightly more in terms of quantity. 

We enjoyed our stay and would return again. As always check out came to early.

The hotel has changed hands since our stay and belongs now to the Principal Hotel Collection. We look forward to enjoy the "new" Blythswood Square hopefully in our future again and again when visiting Glasgow.

©2017

Marco Pierre White Steakhouse, Bar & Grill Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom

During our stay at the Hotel Indigo Glasgow - please see review - my fiance and I had also dinner at Marco Pierre White Steakhouse, Bar and Grill.

We have previous positive experiences with our Marco Pierre White restaurant visits in Dublin, Ireland so we knew it would be busy and booked a table in advance. We also forwarded them during the reservation our dietary requirements.

The restaurant was glamorous with lots of pink and silver and photographs of Marco Pierre White himself.

It had high ceilings too like the lobby of the Indigo and kept some classical elements with modern touches.

The restaurant was already busy. We were greeted by the Maître d' and brought to our table.

Our fellow diners were families and older couples.

We were brought tap water and the menu. The staff was aware of our allergies, which was positive. It had happened at other restaurants that we had sent our dietary requirements, but they had been overlooked and we had to repeat them.

We ordered two pear mojito, smoked Scottish salmon, brandade of smoked mackerel and as main courses two seared yellow fin tuna steaks with panzanella salad.

All was tasty and colorful. The smoked salmon looked especially appetizing and was very thinly cut.

The tuna and panzanella salad were the perfect combination and the textures complimented each other.

Of course our sweet tooth had to be satisfied too. Our desserts were Mr. White's rice pudding with hot apricot compote and Cambridge Burnt Cream.

My fiance enjoyed his rice pudding. The apricot compote was really hot and my fiance impatient, so he burned himself once.

The burnt cream was more like a Crème Bruelee. 

All portions were generous and tasty.

The bill was 73.80 GBP (ca. 84.25 Euro / ca. 94.35 USD).

The staff was attentive, friendly and efficient. 

We would return due to the relaxing and convivial atmosphere, the great staff and the good food.

©2017

Hotel Indigo Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom

September 2016, Our 1 night/2 days stay experience

When planning our trip to Scotland in September 2016 we thought long and hard which hotels to book in Glasgow. One of our choices was the Indigo Glasgow, because it was unusual in regards to its history and design.

Originally the building was the first power station in Glasgow, supplying the surrounding houses with electricity.

Indigo is part of the Intercontinental Hotel Group and their boutique offering, which means the Indigo brand within the IHG Group offers a more individual design and heritage as let’s say their Holiday Inn properties. 

This particular stay was our first experience with the brand during our one night stay.

The hotel is not far from the Main Train Station and the Hilton Glasgow [in which we stayed a few yeas ago] and housed in a Georgian building. There are steps leading up to the entrance with a revolving door.

The lobby was small, but full of character and original details with the reception to the left and the restaurant and bar by Marco Pierre White to the right. There was a seating area for two with complimentary local newspapers offered near the elevators.

We liked the high ceilings and stucco walls.

Check in was done quickly and Fraser, the receptionist, chatted with us about his trip to Berlin.

We were soon on the way to our Standard King Room on the 4th floor.

It was larger than we expected with very high ceilings and windows.

Our views were over the courtyard and surrounding houses.

The room had a feminine feel with red tones and flower printed wall paper. The flower theme continued throughout our room incl. the golden curtains and the carpet. There was also a wooden floor.

Another color used was white to give a contrast against the reds used.

We loved the room and its romantic feel. It was enhanced by a photograph of a Glasgow landmark and by a part of the wallpaper incorporating another local landmark.

The bed was comfortable and large. The headboard was made of leather and accentuated the theme of the room by having red buttons added.

On one nightstand was a modern but 50s inspired radio and IPod docking station. It was cool and we liked it. 

The writing desk had the “Sunday Times Travel Magazine” and “This is Glasgow” and “Welcome to the neighborhood” brochure including other Indigo hotels, for example Duesseldorf, Tel Aviv and Edinburgh. 

A small mirror was also a welcome addition by the writing desk.

The free Wi-Fi internet was blazing fast at all times when we used it.

The flat screen TV had only regional channels and the most important news channel available was BBC News. No real problem, but a more international selection would have been nice, especially when staying longer at this beautiful boutique hotel.

We enjoyed the chair with ottoman and coffee table.

There was also a wardrobe with mini bar, which was complimentary, and one that was sensible. It included one Schweppes Lemonade, one Diet Coke, two Strathmore still water, two Tunnock’s milk chocolate covered caramel wafer biscuits [More of these please!] and one pack of Real Crisps, hand cooked with sea salt and malt vinegar flavor. We took the wafers, the water and the lemonade. Having not tried Tunnock’s before we are now big fans and buy them regularly, even when not in Scotland.

There was a full size free-standing mirror too.

In room dining was 24 hours available. Some dishes were from Marco Pierre White Steakhouse, Bar & Grill. Otherwise there were for example sandwiches, starting from 5.25 GBP (ca. 5.95 Euro / ca. 6.70 USD), soup of the day 6.50 GBP (ca. 7.35 Euro / ca. 8.25 USD), Thai Chicken Curry 12.95 GBP (ca. 14.65 Euro / ca. 16.40 USD) and desserts from 2.95 GBP (ca. 3.35 Euro / ca. 3.75 USD).

Tea/coffee making facilities were available too and the tea was by Brodies of Edinburgh.

The bathroom was medium sized and stylish incl. beautifully printed tiles plus sink, toilet and shower only. There was a rainfall shower head and a hand held one. Amenities were by Aveda, which we like and use at home too.

The staff was responsive to any of our requests, like delivering more shampoo or replacing our hair dryer, when it didn’t work all of a sudden. All these services had been promptly delivered with a smile.

Our rate included breakfast, which was small, but of high quality and sufficient.

One hot item was included per guest and the cold items were served buffet style. There were three types of bread and pastries, two types of cheese and juices, some cold cuts, fresh fruits including watermelon and strawberries, one muesli, cereals, granola, milk, a smoothie, seeds and dried fruits.

The muesli was a bit difficult to get out of the container and I never figured out how the toaster was working.

Special mention has to go to the gluten free section.

We really loved our stay and thought the one night was too short. We would love to return again to this wonderful boutique hotel offering from IHG incl. Glasgow hopefully in our future.


©2017