We will be staying at the Glasgow Radisson SAS second week in Oct.

Interested in eating at Etain, Rogano, Buttery - can we walk from the hotel? Better not to at night?

Also - in West End of Edinburgh near where we are staying at Ednburgh Residence, I think there is a Bouzy Rouge a few blocks away; but the internet sites seem to suggest that this is/was a Howies - which is it? The address is 1A Alva St. Any thoughts on the food at either chain?

My only other trip to Edinburgh, had a wonderful dinner at Martins on Rose St (had a taxi find it for us!).

Dschoening,

Re your Glasgow query - you won't have any problems walking to either Etain or the Rogano from the Radisson. Actually these restaurants are located very close to one another, so once you've found one it should be easy enough to find the other.

IMO the Buttery is a different story, however. It's actually not all that far from your hotel and there's absolutely nothing wrong with the area - it's just that you would be walking away from the city centre and the restaurant is a little off the beaten track. When the town planners built the motorway through the city centre the Buttery was caught just on the "wrong side of the tracks" & as a result it's a little isolated. It's one of those places that's easy to see from the main road but not so easy to actually get to.

A taxi from your hotel would take 5 minutes (say 10 minutes tops to allow for traffic) & shouldn't cost much. The Buttery enjoys a great reputation so hopefully your journey will be worthwhile.

Jim

Hi Dorothy. You are right, the Bouzy Rouge on Alva Street is now a Howie's. We do eat at Howie's occasionally but they are variable. The best thing is they are BYO so saves money ! Probably best if you pass by & see if you fancy this month's menu, since you are staying nearby. But are you aware that they are v. casual, down to earth bistro type places ? I.e. not at all the same sort of level as the restaurants you are asking about in Glasgow. If you'd like suggestions for posher places, or anything else, just let me know.

P.S. Sadly, Martin's is no longer.

Hi
Over the last year or so my work colleagues and I spent a lot of time in Glasgow. Our favourite restaurant was 78 St Vincents (www.78stvincent.com)Beautiful building, good food and service. We used to go in a lovely panelled pub almost opposite (Drum and Monkey??)for a drink before our meal.
We also loved Sarti's although this is much more informal (fantastic pizza's and a great setting, like eating in an Italian deli).
We used to end up at Vronis champagne bar, another great place. www.vronis.co.uk
M

MArtin's is no more? Say that isn't so!

Have they moved somewhere other than Edinburgh?

Sorry, Jody, it's true It closed a couple of months ago - I don't know why, assume they had just had enough.

http://news.scotsman.com/edinburgh.cfm?id=1728112005

The restaurant is now a posh Indian, owned by the same bloke as Oloroso, & got a terrible review from Joanna Blythman in the Sunday Herald a couple of weeks ago.

Thanks for the article, caroline.

After 22 years in a very hard business, I guess maybe they were tired out!

SO sorry about Martin's - was looking forward to it.

Thanks, Jim, for the Glasgow input. We will have a car but will take taxis, I think, for dinners out if walking is not a good bet.

Caroline, we are VERY flexible people, and I am looking for a variety of dining experiences. Sometimes (at our age - we are all in our 50s) we just don't feel like major dining - we just want good, convenient comfort food and have done with it!

With Martin's gone, we might be considering Fisher's in the City and Stac Polly as well as the Witchery. We have two nights of dinners to plan, and the first night will be with us either tremendously tired or confused...

Dorothy

Hi Dorothy

My opinon of the places you mention :-

Fisher's in the City : haven't been since just after it opened, about 2 years ago. It gets good reviews. We had a *very* disappointing experience at the original Fisher's in Leith a few weeks ago; so our guess is that since F.i.t.C. became a success, the owners have lost interest in the original one.

Stac Polly : again haven't been for a couple of years but it was always good whenever I went. Dublin Street more atmospheric (stone cellar) but Grindlay Street (the original) maybe better food.

The Witchery : tourist trap but food & wine quite good although expensive. I prefer the Secret Garden room to the actual Witcher room. Maybe a place you have to visit once.

And here's some notes I've sent out before :-

Here are some of my favourites places to eat in Edinburgh.

If you want gourmet, there are two restaurants with one Michelin star. Martin Wishart's in Leith is fantastic, especially if you have the six course tasting menu (which will all be cooked by the man himself). It's very high class but friendly and unstuffy. Book 2-3 months in advance for dinner; probably less for lunch but I've not tried.

The other starred restaurant is Number One in the Balmoral : food nothing special IMO, ambience is more formal & traditional.

For Italian, La Partenope on Dalry Road is wonderful. The chef-proprietor & his food are Neapolitan & it's the best Italian food (especially seafood) I've had outside southern Italy. Unusually for an Italian restaurant, in the UK at any rate, even the desserts are home made & very good. They also have a very interesting list of southern Italian wines largely based on little known grape varieties. The ambience is very relaxed.

La Garrigue on Jeffrey Street is a small French restaurant specialising in cooking of the Languedoc where the chef-proprietor is from, as are all the wines. The food & the chef are both lovely and the ambience is correct but relaxed. If you sit near the window there is a view of Calton Hill & its monuments.

Both Black Bo's and David Bann's do very interesting & innovative vegetarian cusine. BB's is very casual, studenty even, & DB's is smart casual & v. modern. Both v. reasonably priced.

Centotre on George Street is a busy, buzzy Italian caffe-bar offering everything from a coffee to the full works. Particularly good pizza & pasta.

If you want 'modern Scottish', Stac Polly on Grindlay Street is good.

When we have vistors we usually take them for Sunday lunch in Leith (the old docks area). There are lots of nice waterfront places, notably the Shore, where you can eat in the restaurant (non-smoking) or in the pub; the Waterfront and Skipper's. All of these are particularly good for fish but do other things too. I used to think Fisher's in Leith was the best for fish but had a very disappointing experience there recently : I haven't tried Fisher's in the City for some time so won't judge it.

I've never had good fish & chips in Edinburgh.

If you want recommendations for any other specific types of cuisine, please ask.

Dorothy, not sure if you'll be here by October 6th ? (I know that's not the 2nd week but maybe you're coming to Edinburgh first.)

If so, get the Herald (Scottish newspaper) - each Thursday betwen now & then it will publish a token entitling you to a 2 course meal + dram of whisky at various restaurants, including Howies on Alva Street. You need to book online & present the token when you arrive at the restaurant. There doesn't seem to be any time restriction, e.g. only applicable to dining early.

I was at Fisher's in the City last month. Thought it had been a bit over sold, but the food was fine and the service was fast and friendly.

Keith

I would have to say that I had a terrific meal at Vin Caffe (behind Harvey Nicks) last month. It's in direct competition with Centotre, being owned by a different branch of the same family

I was already seduced by the website for Centotre after it was recommended in another thread - found the Vincaffe site when looking for Valvona and Crolla and it looks wonderful, too. Was also charmed by First Coast website - found it when I was looking up La Partenope's location.

We are going to Edinburgh first, will be there just two full days the first week in Oct. (oh, my! will be there next week!)will check out the Herald; was kind of hoping to use Howie's as a fallback because it is so close to our hotel.

I am now sad that we are not spending another whole week in Edinburgh - so many great places to try, so little time! At least I am sure we will have some excellent choices.

As for Glasgow: Rogano's is an institution and we feel is the best restaurant in Glasga! They have two options for dining either Cafe Rogano (downstairs-art deco, great quotes on the walls) definitely more casual and the main restaurant upstairs which is very pricey. The cocktails while you wait are wonderful especially if you enjoy champagne Try the tablet, the Manager, Jim's wife makes it and it's amazing!! Wherever you choose to go for dinner, go to The Horse Shoe Bar if you enjoy listening to good karoke, a bit of a dive but a fun expereince. Drum & Monkey which was mentioned early is now non-smoking which is a huge plus!!

l have eaten in the Bouzy Rouge in Glasgow twice during my recent trip, the food was fantastic! l believe they have another Boozy Rouge for seafood but that will have to wait until my next trip.

Claire, Dorothy has been & gone.

Caroline, that's ok - it's never too early to start planning one's next trip to Scotland!

Dorothy

Caroline,

Can't believe you've never had good fish and chips in Edinburgh ... you've obviously never been to L'Alba d'Oro in Henderson Row.

They've won award year after year, but that aside, they're as good as I've ever tasted ... and they sell great Italian wines to go with it!

Violet: thanks, but I have been to Alba d'Oro (admittedly only once). Chips were soggy (which I've concluded is how people here seem to prefer them) & had an odd taste to them.