It's been a few years since we last had dinner at Hotel du Vin, located at the luxurious One Devonshire Gardens in Glasgow's west end on the periphery of Hyndland and Kelvinside, so a return visit was long overdue...
We started our Early Evening Dine menu (Enjoy a complimentary carafe of wine or alternatively £10 off a bottle of your choice when dining from our French influenced a la carte menu or our seasonally inspired Prix Fixe menu between 5:30pm – 7pm Monday to Friday - the deal still runs but the details are off the website) experience by relaxing in the bar with a Blood and Sand Cocktail and a gin and tonic. The cocktail was refreshingly pleasant with whisky, orange juice, brandy and vermouth (Info on the history of the cocktail can be found here).
Part of the Early Evening deal is that you get a carafe of wine included, or £10 off a bottle of wine - we chose the house red, which was Château Bauduc 2010 Clos Des Quinze Bordeaux. Bordeaux is usually a safe choice and it was typically smooth and fruity.
Scottish Scallop, Cornish Crab and Dunkeld Smoked Salmon (£13.95)
Dinky, delicate and light tasting trio with expertly cooked scallop, crab meat and delicious Scottish smoked salmon with samphire and leafy accompaniments. Yum!
Home smoked wood pigeon with foie gras, fig sauce and gingerbread. (£13.95)
Tender meaty wood pigeon with smooth smooth foie gras in a crunchy ring with a slight anise taste in the gingerbread. The fig, and sauce, provided a good companion to the pigeon. Very nice!
Leek onion and pea velouté with crushed oatcakes chives and lemon oil
An unexpected treat between courses! Thick and smooth, with chunks of potato and haddock. Like a really smooth green-veg infused Cullen Skink. Really lovely and similar to what we had in Mark Greenaway's earlier this year but in fact better and more interesting.
Daube of Scotch Cairnhill farm beef, foie-gras, salsify, Pomerol sauce (£21.50)
Beautiful slow-cooked braised beef, which forked away without any effort. I think this was the first time we'd eaten salsify - the tender green stems. A complementary red wine sauce was dispersed around the plate and I think parsnip crisps were atop the beef. All-in-all pretty darn good!
Red Mullet with saffron veloute (£25.25)
Red Mullet with peppers, blue potatoes and a veloute. The colours as well as the foam was a sight. The crisp skin to the mullet with the moist flesh meant that all was eaten - and Ms Foodie is not a big fish skin fan. Meaty fish but with the delicate sauce made this a successful fishy course.
Side dish
Potatoes in garlic - buttery and covered in herbs. Simple yet delicious!
Dark Chocolate Soufflé
Smelled lovely - that freshly baked smell. It came with vanilla ice cream on the side.
It was sliced open by our waitress and caramel sauce was poured in to moisten the wonderfully light and eggy soufflé.
Cones
For a bit of fun and novelty - crisp wafer cones filled with (and you can see some on the plate) popping candy, parma violets and honeycomb. Very sweet and sugary - the ice cream on top of the cones were topped by a "flake" each, well in proportion. The mallow was a bit like fizzy lemonade - interesting! A welcomed return to childhood!
Conclusion
Hotel du Vin has always provided one of the best eating experiences in Glasgow and we can confirm that the food is still top notch, the staff still attentive and helpful and the surroundings impressive and well-maintained. For a romantic night out or just a treat you can't go wrong with a free carafe of wine with your dinner, especially when there's a choice of 6 starters and 6 mains providing a varied selection for all tastes; there's also a great selection of drinks: especially whiskies and cocktails in the bar.
The current menu can be found here and you can see our previous trip to Hotel du Vin for their excellent all-you-can-eat brunch here.
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