Mar Hall Hotel, Bishopton - Restaurants in Bishopton | s1play.com

Just Grand

Review published on 14/03/2005 © Sunday Herald

I'm five foot, four and a half inches tall - sorry for the detail but every half inch matters - a perfectly respectable height for a woman, I know. But if you are the least bit sensitive about your stature, you may not feel that comfortable in Mar Hall, the new luxury hotel near the Erskine Bridge with views over the Clyde to the Kilpatrick Hills.

Built in 1928, as a home for the 11th lord of Blantyre in the Gothic revival style, it makes minnows of everyone who enters, which you do via a set of steps and a lofty vaulted outer hall straight out of Hammer Horror central casting. This leads into a breathtaking linear hall about as long as a football pitch and about as tall as most cathedrals. A building like this, though special, will struggle to make itself congenial for activity on a human scale. In this respect, Mar Hall has had an effective makeover.

There is still a lingering institutional feel to the reception area - from 1916, the building was used to care for ex-servicemen. But, on the whole, thanks to good insulation, lots of discreet radiators and the services of a pianist of an evening, it feels almost welcoming and makes a rather spectacular setting, albeit better for weddings and events than for more intimate occasions.

Judging by our Saturday evening visit, Mar Hall is now firmly on the map in this area, which is undersubscribed with good food addresses. The dining room - once again astonishingly warm and lively given its towering dimensions - was filled to capacity. It is not at all stuffy though, thanks to unpretentious but highly efficient staff. The wine list is overwhelmingly French. A breath of fresh air, in fact, after too many lists dominated by blowsy New World fruit bombs of the sort advocated by the worryingly influential American wine guru, Robert Parker. Better still, the mark-ups are remarkably restrained for this type of establishment. The bread, however, is powdery and industrial. It needs improvement.

We started with two dishes, a simple but delicious sashimi of halibut and sea bream and a hot and sour prawn soup. The distinctive textures and flavours of the sashimi were delicately enhanced by a dressing of soy, sesame and chives. The soup was agreeable enough but could not seem to decide whether it was a clear Thai-style soup or more of a Chinese egg flower version. Frozen peas added little and the liquor was slightly sweet, making it a rather odd hybrid. The little seafood bisque that preceded it as a micro-course was superior.

Key components of main courses were ably done - fleshy halibut in an amiably retro glazed Thermidor (cheese) sauce and excellent rare venison fillet in a sharp-sweet blueberry sauce with caramelised red cabbage. These were let down by their side vegetables; banal stir-fried carrot batons, oddly sweet jacket potatoes and mangetout peas. Sorry to throw a tantrum here, but from now on I'm going to start deducting points for restaurants who can't get out of the bad habit of using air-freighted vegetables when they should be using what's seasonal here. Ditto the Peruvian asparagus that came with the fish.

A baked passion fruit cheesecake was pleasant albeit gaining little from being served warm, but a dark, almost emulsified Valrhona chocolate tart underscored the very high standard this kitchen can attain. All in all, not a bad start, but there is still work to be done if Mar Hall is to romp into the country house hotel first division.

© Sunday Herald