A favourite ABode
Glasgow has always been one of Susy Macaulay’s favourite places, but now she wants to stay
I BELONG tae Glasgae! I don’t actually, but I always feel as if I do when I visit that great city. Glasgow is the place to go when you want a bit of everything – culture, shopping, eating, drinking, strolling in green space and, of course, enjoying the craic with the friendliest folk on the planet.
I know from personal experience that if you stand in the city centre with a street map and look bewildered for more than a few minutes, a crowd will spontaneously gather around you offering directions and advice. It would be quite in order to go on to tell them your life story and all your problems, if you felt so inclined. Before long, you would be led off for a cuppa or a swift half and looked after until you felt better. I mean it. Glaswegians would give you the shirt off their back, so they would.
A bit of Weegie therapy is definitely in order to get you over the long, dark winter, so why not head down there for a few days?
It’s such a refreshing change of scene that a weekend in the dear green place always makes you feel as if you’ve been away for a week.
And if you want to maximise your exposure to the city centre’s shops, restaurants, galleries and general buzz, you could do worse than make the ABodehotel on Bath Street your home from home.
This great Edwardian building has known several incarnations in its lifetime, traces of which are still visible in the new, contemporary boutique-style hotel launched in 2005. I’ll leave you to discover these for yourself. Suffice it to deploy the word, “eclectic”, when describing the decor.
The hotel’s 60 rooms come in four categories: comfortable, desirable, enviable and fabulous. Mr Macaulay and I stayed in an enviable room. It was large, which we appreciated, and had acres of Edwardian stained-glass window soaring up to the ceiling on one wall. There was oak panelling to give a sense of old-fashioned luxury and a magnificently comfortable bed.
Mr Mac noticed one or two flaws in the furniture, such as ring marks and a certain shabbiness not in keeping with the description of “enviable.” But as there was an important match on that afternoon, he was more than happy with the huge flat-screen TV.
See me, see football? Ah cannae stand it. So time for me to hit the shops, leaving Mr Mac happily staring and shouting at the telly.
At ABode, you are but steps away from the Buchanan Galleries – high-street names, but with sooo much more choice than our provincial equivalents – and Princes Square, that gorgeous boutique mall that can so easily send your credit card into meltdown.
Not everyone wants to shop. If it’s wonderful art you want, head down to the Gallery of Modern Art in Royal Exchange Square, the second most visited contemporary art gallery outside London. Or step along Sauchiehall Street to the Third Eye Centre. (You have to give the nearby McLellan Galleries a miss at the moment as they are closed for refurbishment).
The Third Eye Centre always has thought-provoking exhibitions and installations on display, but most importantly at this point, when your feet are sore, a great cup of tea or coffee. You can also eat rather well there throughout the day.
If you’re feeling energetic, keep heading along Sauchiehall Street until you end up in the city’s famous west end. The iconic university building is something to marvel at, and once you’ve done that, you are a stone’s throw from Byres Road with all its shops and cafes. At the top, the Botanic Gardens beckon. At the bottom, the magnificent Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, the Transport Museum and the wonderful Kelvingrove Park.
So that’s all my favourite bits of Glasgow done and dusted – now what?
Back to the hotel for some aqua therapy (soaking in a hot bath) and some taste-bud therapy.
ABode is part-owned by two-Michelin-starred chef Michael Caines. The highlight of your stay will undoubtedly be the food.
Caines has stamped his own trademark of unpretentious British cuisine with a sophisticated European twist on to the two eateries in ABode, Glasgow.
There are two restaurants, one for full-on fine dining, and the BarMC and Grill for a less formal experience.
Mr Mac and I did not fine-dine as the restaurant was closed that night (Sunday) but our evening in the BarMC and Grill left us with our taste buds tingling and a definite urge to return to sample more.
I had succulent tomato and mozzarella salad to start with, followed by a meltingly deep-flavoured lamb tagine. Mr Mac loved his crispy on the outside, dense on the inside home-made fish cakes (and boy is he fussy about his fish cakes), and he has not stopped talking about his Barbary duck with white beans and root vegetables.
The only thing, ladies, is that such delicious things put your own home cooking, which usually can’t be beaten at brasserie level, spectacularly in the shade. I don’t like Mr Mac to think that anyone can cook better than I, even a Michelin two-starred chef. (Yes, I know, but Mr Mac is rather innocent about food). So I will not be allowing him to experience, for example, the taster menu in the other restaurant.
I mean, would you? Pan-fried scallop with Thai puree and a lemon-grass foam; terrine of foie gras with Madeira jelly and a salad of green beans; pan-fried brill with crushed olive potatoes, potato vinaigrette and a langoustine bisque; slow-roasted partridge with quince puree, braised chicory, caramelised walnuts and a Gewurztraminer wine sauce; a selection of fine cheeses; exotic fruit salad with passion-fruit sorbet; chocolate and orange confit mousse; coffee and petit fours.
It would spoil him completely and for ever. He wouldn’t even grumble too much about the price – £55 – because he would agree that it represented good value.
And he would be thrilled to discuss wines forever with the sommelier – because, rest assured, there is a wide selection precisely designed to complement each course.
If this has got your juices flowing, ABode is offering a spring city break – two nights’ bed and breakfast in a desirable room with breakfast each morning and dinner on one evening in the Michael Caines Restaurant with a bottle of wine.
You could soon be sampling the new spring menu – price for two people, £279.
Or you could revel in an extended weekend with a two-course Sunday lunch at BarMC, then relax for the evening in a comfortable room with breakfast the next morning for just £89 for two people.
ABode Glasgow, 129 Bath Street, Glasgow.
Visit abodehotels.co.uk/glasgow/luxury.php
Phone 0141 221 6789/0141 572 6000, or e-mail reservationsglasgow@abodehotels.co.uk
Room rates:
Comfortable – £99 room only or £109 bed and breakfast.
Desirable – £115 room only or £125 bed and breakfast.
Enviable – £130 room only or £140 bed and breakfast.
Fabulous – £180 room only or £190 bed and breakfast.
