Yen

This review appears in the The List's Eating & Drinking Guide 2008 – in the shops now or buy online.

The North Rotunda is based in the heartland of what was once Clydeside's mighty shipbuilding industry. Today it's an increasingly incongruous relic of red brick Victoriana amid chain hotels, with the gleaming new BBC and STV bases across the water. Yen is actually two restaurants under the circular building's one roof. Downstairs is the star attraction – a teppanyaki dining room that provides a show as much as a meal. High-spirited groups spread round huge hotplates and specialist chefs flip freshly prepared ingredients with the speed and dexterity of street conjurors. Upstairs – the space called Yen Oriental – is inevitably underwhelming by comparison, although conference delegates and concert-goers (a free private car park attracts those headed for the SECC) often ensure there's a lively atmosphere, even during the week. The menu is split into lengthy Thai, Japanese and Cantonese sections. Prawns in a fiery chilli glaze are tamed by a fresh peanut sauce, but the Chinese sweet-and-sour sauce in chicken kpaprao makes it a less impressive representative among the Thai options. Seafood yakisoba on the Japanese menu is a better bet, where pungent seaweed and ginger mix with oily noodles.

• High point: Skill of the teppanyaki chefs
• Low point: Upstairs restaurant lacks the same excitement