The Alston

In the vaults beneath Glasgow’s Central Station, the Alston Bar & Beef has recently opened to considerable acclaim and a flurry of positive reviews. I stopped in for lunch on my regular Glasgow route.

Once I’d made my way down the stairs beneath Gordon Street Coffee, I was greeted by a smiling waiter in a smart apron, who offered a table either in the bar or the restaurant. I opted for the latter.

The interior matches stripped back walls with elegant marble and mirrors for a faded cruise-ship grandeur. It has a Churchillian bunker feel to it that’s a little similar to the smaller scale premises of Lucky Liquor Co on Queen Street in Edinburgh.

At lunchtime, and indeed all afternoon until 6pm (6.30pm Monday to Thursday), they offer a set priced menu of two courses for £12 and three for £15. From this selection, I chose their soup of the day, which was leek and potato, followed by their steak frites (£3 supplement).

The soup was soon with me. It was quite smartly presented on a wooden board with two thick slices of toast accompanying it. The butter was melted to the point of liquefaction and was intensely salty.

The soup was pretty good, but again very highly seasoned making me reach for the water bottle, repeatedly.

The main course steak was presented in much more muted and simple terms. The large hunk of beef looked hugely impressive and given the bold seasoning of the starter I was looking forward to a very tasty piece of beefy joy.

Sadly, the seasoning was entirely too timid and while the beef was of good quality, it was a rather underwhelming dish. The chips were decent but again light on seasoning, which unlike with the steak I was soon able to rectify.

So overall, I liked a lot of what the Alston is doing, but the food didn’t quite wow me. The place is very smart, so I’ll definitely be back for drinks in their impressively stocked gin bar. I’ll maybe try something else from the menu on a future visit as today’s dishes didn’t win me over.

Scores
Blythe scores the Alston
3.5/5 for food
3.5/5 for presentation
3.5/5 for service
4/5 for setting
giving an overall 14.5/20

I ate: leek and potato soup; steak frites

I drank: water

I wore: linen

Total bill: £15