TOUGH trading conditions have been blamed for the closure of another fine-dining restaurant in Glasgow.
After Gordon Ramsay’s failure in the city and other high-profile departures, the award-winning Michael Caines restaurant in Glasgow’s Abode hotel has now closed.
The restaurant on Bath Street, which opened in 2006, closed on Saturday and its award-winnning head chef, Glasgow-born Craig Dunn, who many hoped would attract a Michelin Star to the city, will become executive chef at the Michael Caines restaurant in Exeter.
In a brief statement Caines, who has a network of fine-dining restaurants in England, said: “Business is very steady with year-on-year growth in the other restaurants and none of them is under any threat.
“But this has been a tough year in Glasgow and we have taken the decision to close the restaurant there and review what we are going to do.”
News of the closure will come as a further blow to Glasgow’s reputation for fine-dining and comes in the wake of the recent departure from the city of Paul Tamburrini of Hotel du Vin at One Devonshire Gardens and of Dan Hall at the five-star Blythswood Square Hotel.
Glasgow has not had a Michelin star since 2003 when Ramsay closed the one-starred Amaryllis at One Devonshire Gardens, saying the reason it did not succeed was because there was no market for fine-dining in the city.
Since opening in 2006, Michael Caines at Abode Glasgow has won a string of accolades at the Scottish Hotel Awards, including a Chef Medaille d’Or for dinner excellence and Chef of the Year 2010 for Dunn, who was born in Govan and trained at the Stakis Grosvenor (now The Hilton on Great Western Road). He joined Caines in 2008.
Soon afterwards, Dunn said winning a Michelin star would be amazing.
“There is a lot of talent out there and there are lots of good Scottish chefs. Hopefully Glasgow isn’t so far away from getting a Michelin star. The Michelin is the Daddy; that’s the one you are judged on. We’ve won a few awards but a Michelin would be amazing.”
The more informal MC Café Bar and Grill at the Abode Glasgow remains open.
Last night Ryan James, chairman of the Glasgow Restaurants’ Association, told The Herald: “This is really unfortunate for Glasgow. As I understand it, the fine-dining offer wasn’t part of Abode Hotel’s going-forward strategy.
“The price and the offer at restaurant Michael Caines is one of the sectors that’s struggling here at the moment because it’s competing on a Michelin-star price level but without the Michelin star.
“Mid-priced trattoria-style restaurants are doing really well in Glasgow at the moment, attracting chains such as Pesto which will open in Bath Street on the back of the success of Jamie’s Italian. But that makes it tough for all those in that sector.
“I still believe that whoever gets the first Michelin star for Glasgow will do incredib-ly well.”
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