Last night Roz and I were invited along to the launch of a new menu at Morblas Seafood & Grill restaurant in the Glasgow Hilton. Morblas is derived from the Gaelic words for "Great" and "Taste". Their "food concept meets this description perfectly, offering fresh, modern and accessible food, catering for those of all palates. Understated style evoking visions of the moody Scottish landscape."
We each were invited with a plus one so took our husbands along (although sadly mine had to leave early as he was on night shift) to try the food with us.
We located Roz and B who'd already found a comfortable corner to perch in (right by the door where food seemed to appear from - tactical!)
There was a 'tweet wall' where all the tweets about the food and venue on the night were projected, we got far too excited seeing our tweets appear there I'm afraid to say ;) We all tweeted @HiltonGlasgow and used the hashtag #eatandtweet which apparently ended up trending in Glasgow last night!
The main restaurant area was light and spacious with simple decor and red cacti on the tables. It was quiet at the start of the night but by the time we left it was pretty busy for a Wednesday night!
Then food started to arrive! We were given a menu for the evening of all the tasters on offer which were brought out regularly (although our location backfired somewhat as a lot of things passed us by immediately but we asked to try a few more things and were swiftly served with some of the things we missed out on!) The service was excellent with very regular drink top ups and friendly waiters.
Roz and B had already sampled the scallops when Nik and I arrived but the first thing we tried were the Loch Fyne Oysters with a red wine shallot vinegar. I was a little wary as I have been off oysters since a bad experience last time I ate one (somewhere else!) but decided to go for it and I'm so glad I did, they were delicious and so fresh tasting!
We were worried we might have missed out on the butter roasted scallops but they were bringing out different things all the time and we soon got to try one. They were absolutely the best scallops I've ever tasted! Cooked to perfection with a beautiful colour from the butter, they tasted divine with the pea puree and tomato salsa (the piece of dill was easy to remove for dill haters like me, I hate when it's chopped up all over things!) I would definitely go back to order these even though they're £12 for a starter portion. (Looking at the menu, it's definitely not a cheap grill restaurant but the food is excellent quality.)
The next thing we tried was the 28 day aged steak. Apparently while I was taking photos, I missed the fact one was sirloin and the other fillet and only tried the sirloin. Roz assures me the fillet was lovely and tender. The sirloin was also tender, well cooked (medium rare) and very flavoursome.
The next thing we were brought was the tagine of Scottish winter vegetables with chick peas and cous cous. Nik and I couldn't try this as we are both allergic to certain nuts and these appeared to have walnuts on top. Roz said it was surprisingly nice (we're all big meat fans) and even B liked it and he's not into that kind of thing at all!
I was lucky enough to grab the last risotto as it turned out to be even better than I could have imagined. Not only was it delicious with string peas and wild garlic (and mine was heart shaped!), but the bowl it came in was made of cheese! Not just any cheese but crispy parmesan cheese! I was in heaven! I've always loved the crispy bits of cheese you get when making a panini and it overflows as it melts. This was an entire basket made of that! This comes as a main course in the restaurant and is still served in a parmesan basket. If anything's going to make me choose a veggie option, it's that!
The lovely manager brought us over a few other things to try as we'd seen lots more going past and were extremely jealous of the mini burgers!
The burgers were so juicy and tasty, utterly simple and well seasoned - just as the chef mentioned when he came out to speak to us all at the end. We also sampled the sea bass fillet with baby onions, spinach, squash and a mushroom broth - another hit! We then managed to grab the last belly pork to taste! I absolutely love pork and had the best roast belly pork I've ever had at the weekend in Durham. This was completely different though and came with a very strong flavoured, almost chinese style, sauce with curly kale and apple mash. There wasn't a crispy layer (my favourite part of pork belly) but I'd still consider ordering this as a main as long as there wasn't too much sauce as it could be overpowering on a large plate.
A lot more steak seemed to be doing the rounds again, this time it was rib-eye and so tasty, especially with the sauces! The bearnaise was beautifully creamy with the rare steak.
Then it was time for pud! The first dessert we sampled was the lemon tart. We all agreed it was not something we'd normally order but we really enjoyed it! It had a burnt sugar top like creme brulee and actually the tart was a similar sort of texture as well.
Next up was the rhubarb crumble, which was my favourite of the three we tried. It tasted so fresh and not too zingy with the crumble topping. Yum!
And finally the sticky toffee pudding! We'd all been looking forward to this one but actually ended up a little disappointed. It was pretty dry and I didn't love the flavour. It may have just been due to the small portions allowing it to dry out and a normal portion might be much better. The ice-cream was very nice though, a very creamy flavour with vanilla beans through it. I'd stick with the crumble though - it was delicious!
At the end of the evening, the manager introduced us to the head chef, Jim, (The executive chef is Simon Whitely) who said a few words about the menu and answered a few questions (his favourite thing on the menu is the scallops too!) Their aim is simple but delicious food and they have certainly achieved that. Everything we tried was fabulous and we all said we want to go back for a full meal. In fact we'll have to as I really wanted to try the king prawn bruschetta and ham hock terrine ;)
We then had a bit of time to finish our drinks while socialising! Roz introduced me to Wendy who she met at the Munros opening. It was lovely to meet her as I've followed her blog for a long time, ever since I saw her do a guest post about wrist parties! Roz and I got all excited again as we saw our tweets about the evening pop up on the wall a few times...
Roz and I then had a quick tour of the main restaurant which is massive, much bigger than you first think as it goes right round and has a large area for the hotel breakfast buffet.
At the end of the night I was the only one left, waiting for my taxi to the Southside as the rest all headed off to the West end.
Nik and I arrived to a buzzing blue lit area and were greeted by Tracey from DADA PR and the restaurant manager with a glass of Prosecco for me and a delicious non-alcoholic berry smoothie for Nik.
We located Roz and B who'd already found a comfortable corner to perch in (right by the door where food seemed to appear from - tactical!)
There was a 'tweet wall' where all the tweets about the food and venue on the night were projected, we got far too excited seeing our tweets appear there I'm afraid to say ;) We all tweeted @HiltonGlasgow and used the hashtag #eatandtweet which apparently ended up trending in Glasgow last night!
The main restaurant area was light and spacious with simple decor and red cacti on the tables. It was quiet at the start of the night but by the time we left it was pretty busy for a Wednesday night!
Then food started to arrive! We were given a menu for the evening of all the tasters on offer which were brought out regularly (although our location backfired somewhat as a lot of things passed us by immediately but we asked to try a few more things and were swiftly served with some of the things we missed out on!) The service was excellent with very regular drink top ups and friendly waiters.
 |
| B getting a top up of beer |
We were worried we might have missed out on the butter roasted scallops but they were bringing out different things all the time and we soon got to try one. They were absolutely the best scallops I've ever tasted! Cooked to perfection with a beautiful colour from the butter, they tasted divine with the pea puree and tomato salsa (the piece of dill was easy to remove for dill haters like me, I hate when it's chopped up all over things!) I would definitely go back to order these even though they're £12 for a starter portion. (Looking at the menu, it's definitely not a cheap grill restaurant but the food is excellent quality.)
The next thing we tried was the 28 day aged steak. Apparently while I was taking photos, I missed the fact one was sirloin and the other fillet and only tried the sirloin. Roz assures me the fillet was lovely and tender. The sirloin was also tender, well cooked (medium rare) and very flavoursome.
The next thing we were brought was the tagine of Scottish winter vegetables with chick peas and cous cous. Nik and I couldn't try this as we are both allergic to certain nuts and these appeared to have walnuts on top. Roz said it was surprisingly nice (we're all big meat fans) and even B liked it and he's not into that kind of thing at all!
I was lucky enough to grab the last risotto as it turned out to be even better than I could have imagined. Not only was it delicious with string peas and wild garlic (and mine was heart shaped!), but the bowl it came in was made of cheese! Not just any cheese but crispy parmesan cheese! I was in heaven! I've always loved the crispy bits of cheese you get when making a panini and it overflows as it melts. This was an entire basket made of that! This comes as a main course in the restaurant and is still served in a parmesan basket. If anything's going to make me choose a veggie option, it's that!
The lovely manager brought us over a few other things to try as we'd seen lots more going past and were extremely jealous of the mini burgers!
The burgers were so juicy and tasty, utterly simple and well seasoned - just as the chef mentioned when he came out to speak to us all at the end. We also sampled the sea bass fillet with baby onions, spinach, squash and a mushroom broth - another hit! We then managed to grab the last belly pork to taste! I absolutely love pork and had the best roast belly pork I've ever had at the weekend in Durham. This was completely different though and came with a very strong flavoured, almost chinese style, sauce with curly kale and apple mash. There wasn't a crispy layer (my favourite part of pork belly) but I'd still consider ordering this as a main as long as there wasn't too much sauce as it could be overpowering on a large plate.
A lot more steak seemed to be doing the rounds again, this time it was rib-eye and so tasty, especially with the sauces! The bearnaise was beautifully creamy with the rare steak.
Then it was time for pud! The first dessert we sampled was the lemon tart. We all agreed it was not something we'd normally order but we really enjoyed it! It had a burnt sugar top like creme brulee and actually the tart was a similar sort of texture as well.
Next up was the rhubarb crumble, which was my favourite of the three we tried. It tasted so fresh and not too zingy with the crumble topping. Yum!
And finally the sticky toffee pudding! We'd all been looking forward to this one but actually ended up a little disappointed. It was pretty dry and I didn't love the flavour. It may have just been due to the small portions allowing it to dry out and a normal portion might be much better. The ice-cream was very nice though, a very creamy flavour with vanilla beans through it. I'd stick with the crumble though - it was delicious!
At the end of the evening, the manager introduced us to the head chef, Jim, (The executive chef is Simon Whitely) who said a few words about the menu and answered a few questions (his favourite thing on the menu is the scallops too!) Their aim is simple but delicious food and they have certainly achieved that. Everything we tried was fabulous and we all said we want to go back for a full meal. In fact we'll have to as I really wanted to try the king prawn bruschetta and ham hock terrine ;)
We then had a bit of time to finish our drinks while socialising! Roz introduced me to Wendy who she met at the Munros opening. It was lovely to meet her as I've followed her blog for a long time, ever since I saw her do a guest post about wrist parties! Roz and I got all excited again as we saw our tweets about the evening pop up on the wall a few times...
Roz and I then had a quick tour of the main restaurant which is massive, much bigger than you first think as it goes right round and has a large area for the hotel breakfast buffet.
At the end of the night I was the only one left, waiting for my taxi to the Southside as the rest all headed off to the West end.
 |
| Decor in the hotel lobby |
We all had a brilliant night and thoroughly enjoyed the food! I've never eaten in the Hilton before but after this taster, I'll definitely be going back for more!
3 comments:
Wow, sounds great. Put it on the ever growing list for our next visit. xx
lovely to meet you too!x
Thankfifi
The food looks amazing but Bex your hair looks so good it is distracting me from the food - love your outfit too (sorry, will pay attention better in future!)
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