Alan Tomkins opened his Western Club Restaurant last month. It marks the first new city centre venture for the veteran restaurateur in almost a decade. He reckons it is Glasgow’s finest dining room. He could be right.
The best word to describe The Western Club Restaurant is sumptuous. It’s luxurious, opulent, gorgeous and impressive. It doesn’t come as any surprise to hear that designer Amanda Rosa has put her mark on. Her credits include the original One Devonshire Hotel and Dakota… she’s a lady who knows how to do posh and how to do it well.
For those that don’t know The Western Club, it is located on Royal Exchange Square and is Glasgow’s oldest and only remaining residential club. Today the restaurant is now open to the public, but the 600 members still have their own private dining area and bar. Alan explains, “I was approached by the club a long time ago. I have in effect rented the space, but I am also responsible for the food and beverage operation throughout the whole premises and not just my restaurant. So the members still have their own private space, but if they want they can also enjoy our restaurant and they do have some member associated benefits.”
The new venture was the result of a “head-hunting” exercise by the Club, who identified Tomkins as having the track record and reputation they were looking for in the partnership, and as such the two parties agreed that Amanda Rosa was the best person suited to designing the restaurant.
Alan comments, “The minute I walked into the Club’s dining room I instantly knew it would make the most fantastic restaurant. And we knew that Amanda, with her pedigree, would get it just right.” He continues, “Her brief was to create an elegant but not too shouty restaurant that was contemporary, but classical and at the same time comfortable.”
You enter The Western Club Restaurant on the ground floor and immediately you are transported out of the bustling Royal Exchange Square into an oasis of calm in the elegant reception area where you are welcomed and ushered up stairs. The building boasts a rich dark grey colour scheme which carries through from the reception area, up the stairs to the landing and then into the restaurant. It’s almost like entering a rather grand house which has had the contemporary, professional interior decorators in.
At the top of the stairs you find a rich pink upholstered armchair and a console with two lamps, and large mirror just as you would find in the hallway of a house. Double doors take you into the restaurant, says Alan, “We wanted people to be able to enter through a grand double door which also allowed us space to create a meet and greet area. To create this area we had to knock down a dividing wall.”
The restaurant overlooks Royal Exchange Square and from the windows you can see the elegance of architecture that litters the square particularly the Greek Thomson pillars. In fact the dining room also boasts its own, much plainer, pillars which have been painted the same grey as the walls.
The room also features wood panelling in the same grey and striking mirrors all round the room, which look like windows. They reflect the light from the square and at night cast the twinkling lights of the Royal Exchange Square fairy lights into the restaurant itself. Says Alan, “At night with all our candles, the dimmed lighting and the reflection of the fairy lights, this is really a magical dining space.”
There is a small area on the right of the room where you can sit and enjoy a pre-dinner drink. This has fixed minky leather seating, a scattering of cushions and black round metal tables which can wind up or down. The carpet and the soft furnishings are predominently a soft mink, with crushed velvet-like upholstery on the bucket chairs.
This area also has an standing height posing table, inset with walnut, which seats eight and which also boast eight elegantly stripped bar stools. Huge half-globe like hanging lampshades which appear to be lined with mother-of-pearl. Giving off a lovely soft glow. Along the centre of the table lie a rack of small candles.
To the left as you come in there is a well-equipped but unobtrusive serving bar. The furniture in the restaurant is mainly rosewood although there are a few tables, which seat eight, and which have more of a rustic feel. This adds a bit of variety and also interest. The whole restaurant is carpeted with strippy mink and dark grey carpet, which is the sort of carpet you sink into. While discreet wall lights line the walls.
Says Alan, “We are not minimalists nor are we maximists. The feeling here is one of calmness and elegance.”
Peter Wilson, formerly Chef at Lochgreen House and Piersland House in Troon, heading up the kitchen team. He is serving contemporary classic food using the very best seasonal Scottish ingredients.
Alan continues, “When I first saw the restaurant space I could envisage today’s business leaders doing deals in this space and diners enjoying its elegance.”
And on the day I visited, and in fact enjoyed lunch, it was indeed being utilised by businessmen, couples and club members too. It is certainly a grand addition to Glasgow’s restaurant scene.
The Western Club Restaurant is at 32 Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow G1 3AB