Time waits for no food blogger
We'd eaten in Tempus in Edinburgh years ago, and had made it to the restaurant that replaced it, The Printing Press, twice but had never been to Tempus at Grand Central Hotel in Glasgow so finally sorted that out with a recent visit, at Christmas time no less!
Located right next to Glasgow Central train station with luxurious decor and a warming plum colour scheme, three massive windows, two huge chandeliers and a wall with a giant Peter Howson style railway themed mural. Add to this a balcony complete with Christmas tree and you can't help but be impressed!
Festive Dinner menu
We were here for a festive dinner in December.
Starters
After making beetroot tartare the week before, Mr Foodie jumped right in for the whipped goats cheese with beetroot carpaccio and candied walnuts.
This dish looked and tasted more like a cheesecake with large chunks of beetroot instead of the thin slivers we were expecting. The biscuit base was actually sweet like a cheesecake and topped with a slice of unwhipped goats cheese. The beetroot pieces were soft but smaller pieces would have been nicer. The subtle vinegar tang from the beetroot worked well with the goats cheese.
Chicken, apricot and tarragon terrine with sourdough crisps and chutney next.
A course and thick terrine with lots of tarragon and interspersed apricot chunks. Also supplied with a good amount of "sourdough crisps" and sweet chutney to go with the serving.
Main courses
Roast Turkey with sage and onion stuffing, chipolatas, roast potatoes and root vegetables.
Plump and juicy chipolatas. An excellent portion of mixed white and brown meat for the turkey. A good slice of sage and onion stuffing, which wasn't too overpowering. Carrots were perfect however the parsnips and roast potatoes were disappointing.
Slow cooked beef shin with puff pastry, fondant potato, creamed cabbage and red wine jus.
A dish fairly representative of beef dishes in Scottish hotel restaurants. Very peppery shin of beef, soft flakey meat and a very good fondant potato but I wasn't sold on the redundant puff pastry lattice.
Of course Mrs Foodie had to order some mac & cheese as a side (an extra £3).
The macaroni was perfectly cooked and coated well with a creamy mozzarella topping but being mac aficionados it wasn't quite cheesy enough to be OMG worthy but it was munchable.
Desserts
Sticky toffee pudding with clementine ice cream
A subtly citric ice cream but something with more of a marmalade zing would've been good. A light sweet sponge with a good amount of syrup.
And last but not least, Banofee cheesecake with salted caramel.
Which wasn't really a cheesecake as it came in a pastry case, the base of which was too soft, so a more conventional buttery biscuity base might work better? It was sweet, there was a good amount of toffee but little banana taste.
Overall
A fairly standard hotel restaurant meal to be honest. It seems that there had been a few tweaks to items on the menu so a few dishes weren't quite as we expected but while this wasn't really an issue taste-wise none of our choices had the wow factor, which is disappointing as the surroundings were lovely. The meal was delivered promptly and service was very attentive with a bit of banter.
Price-wise it's actually very good for the location (£25 for a Friday or Saturday night in the city centre at Xmas?!) but not up to the standard that the Grand Central should be providing, e.g. it wasn't on the same level as our visits to The Printing Press, the restaurant at the Principal Edinburgh George St hotel where we also dined recently (review coming soon!) Maybe we chose the wrong time to visit - a Monday at Christmas time, when standards can slip. There were other positives however, the music was James Brown and other funky stuff so thumbs up for that and the toilets were clean and functional but a bit of a walk downstairs. Oh, and of course it's right next to Glasgow Central station so no excuses getting to/from here for half of Greater Glasgow! It's only a slightly longer walk for buses, underground and trains to Glasgow Queen Street station.
TL;DR+ Smart, welcoming restaurant
+ Excellent prompt service
+ Funky music!
+ Great price for location and time of year
+ Ideally placed for public transport
- Some dishes don't look quite as described
- Food needs tweaks to elevate it above other hotel restaurants
Disclaimer: we received a complimentary meal for the purposes of review.
