Eating Out: Limelight

Aug 22 2012 By Joe McGuire

Address: 75 Waterloo Street Telephone: 226 7726

AS an amateur dramatics enthusiast I will admit to enjoying being the centre of attention.

I’m at home in the limelight, both the centre of attention and, it turns out, the rather special restaurant to be found on Waterloo Street.

Based in the imposing building that in another age housed Glasgow’s first power station, the restaurant and bar is one of the most stylishly decorated venues to be found in the city.

Walking through the revolving doors you’re greeted with an expansive airy space, trendy feature lighting and, my favourite feature, countless portraits of famous Scots bedecking the walls.

All painted by graduates of Glasgow School Of Art it’s all part of the owners, Hotel Indigo’s ethos of making their establishments sympathetic to the locale.

The place could be papered with original transcripts of the King James bible with a cashmere carpet however and it wouldn’t matter a jot if the food and service wasn’t up to scratch.

Right away though it becomes clear the latter at least is worthy of the decor.

In short order the friendly waiting staff had us sat down at a roomy booth and before long we had our starters in front of us.

I’d gone for the soup of the day, in this case a very tasty carrot and coriander (£4.95), which came with a freshly-baked bread farl.

My friend went for the pork and apple croquette with thyme jus and Stornoway black pudding (£8.50).

Sadly this vanished from her plate so quick I didn’t get any, but she assured me it was a “taste sensation”.

Next up we both plumped for the fillet steak, which was served with handcut chips and a huge flatcap mushroom (£27.95).

The steak was quite simply a triumph, both juicy and perfectly cooked, the jenga-like stack of chips expertly seasoned and the mushroom was practically a meal in itself.

The peppercorn sauce I’d gone for was delightfully spicy and jam-packed with corns, while my pal reported good things on her bearnaise.

We contemplated the famous faces on the walls as we pondered dessert (when you go an excellent game is trying to name as many as possible) but soon caved to our sweet tooth.

Relatively simple but well-executed tablet icecream (£4.95) was my choice while my friend decided to play the glutton with six Limelight dessert pots (£15.95).

A half dozen little glasses filled with individual desserts, cranachan, sticky toffee pudding, chocolate mousse, lemon delice, strawberry cheesecake and vanilla pannacotta, I’d recommend this as a sharing starter between two, or maybe even three people.

My petite, yet strangely capacious, dinner companion managed to pack them all away solo however and gave them two thumbs up.

Judging by how much she clearly enjoyed them a standing ovation would’ve been on the cards if she hadn’t lost the power to stand up by this point.

Limelight may be a wee bit on the pricey side, but from my experience it’s clear to see why - excellence doesn’t come cheap.

So if you fancy treating yourself with some food worthy of starring centre-stage, step into the Limelight.

Click here for your chance to win dinner for four at The Limelight, plus take advantage of our great reader offer.