La Vallée Blanche

Once upon a time there was a Conran restaurant in Glasgow called étain, but sadly the plug was pulled in 2007. In a phoenix-from-the-ashes move, chef Neil Clark & some of the original crew recently moved to this new venture in the city’s West End. La Vallée Blanche offers very good French-inspired food in a first-floor setting that resembles an Alpine chalet – think wooden slats on the walls, hessian flooring & red fabrics. The quality of the cooking, however, belies the purposively unvarnished decor. You could start with a wild garlic & potato soup with ham hock ravioli & goats’ cheese cream; then comes perfectly cooked Scottish halibut with cauliflower purée, white asparagus, broad beans & leek velouté, before lemon posset with orange pannacotta & citrus jelly. Fixed-price lunches & pre-theatre menus (£12.95 & £14.95 for three courses, respectively) are brilliant value.