Rab Ha's

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• What are these?

• Average price 2 courses: £22
• House wine: £14.95 per bottle

• High point: Sticky toffee pudding worth seeking out
• Low point: Staff can be distracted by upstairs bar
• Food served: Mon-Sun 5.30-10pm
• Bar open: Mon-Sat noon-midnight; Sun 12.30pm-midnight
• No. overnight rooms: 4
• Open since: 1990
• Also offers: Childrens portions, Childrens high chairs, Pre-theatre menu

The List's Eating & Drinking Guide 2008 is now in the shops.

This review is from the 2007 edition.

Rab Ha' earned his keep in 19th century Glasgow by taking bets on how much he could consume, once devouring an entire calf's worth of pies. The basement restaurant that takes his name, while being somewhat more refined, evokes the infamous glutton with its filling Scottish dishes. The snug setting, with a central pillar keeping all corners intimate, is underneath a rowdy but unheard bar, while diners often breeze down from the four-room boutique hotel upstairs. The restaurant is confident enough to rely on six mains with a minimum of adornments. A starter of Cullen skink has toned down the usual smoky vigour of this soup, while lime and coriander dressing makes only a slight impression on the strong seafood tang of Oban scallops. A plump, juicy, grilled fillet steak arrives with roasted root vegetables and new potatoes, and a thin red wine jus. The skin slips off fillets of sea bass to uncover tender flesh, enhanced by lemony green beans. A dessert of sticky toffee pudding is a marvel, simultaneously light and enriched with viscous butterscotch sauce, and the sugary vim of an orange and passion fruit cheesecake is unmistakably home-made.