The Delphine, Princes Square, Glasgow

Delphine Book Nook

I was sitting in a pretty, pistachio-coloured restaurant sipping a chilled spicy Margarita and admiring a view I hadn’t appreciated for ages: four floors of high-end fashion and mid-market restaurants set within 19th-century sandstone walls, a stunning glazed roof, sweeping symmetrical cross-cross escalators and carved wooden Art Nouveau-style staircases. As the early autumn daylight faded, uplights came on to enhance the unique design of this 1980s shopping and dining mall.

It felt good to be back in Glasgow’s Princes Square, originally a mid-19th-century merchant square off Buchanan Street and which, when it first opened in its current form in 1988 - before Glasgow was named both European City of Culture and European City of Architecture and Design - was a triumphant

pioneer in the city’s burgeoning retail and dining scene. The addition of the stunning showpiece exterior of aluminium trailing leaves by the Glasgow design studio Timorous Beasties drew further attention to this landmark mall. Initially intended as a nod to neglected historical buildings, perhaps the striking cladding is now a hopeful symbol of regrowth.

Passionfruit Pavlova

Katharine Hamnett, Whistles and Vidal Sassoon were among the first high-profile occupants, and Sir Terence Conran chose it as the site of his first out-of-London restaurant, Etain. I still remember the thrill of its paparazzi-thronged opening.

It’s no small achievement that Princes Square has prevailed for almost 40 years, through changing tastes, generations and owners, and more recently in the challenge faced by both retail and hospitality in the current UK-wide economic climate.

Ted Baker and Jo Malone are among those who have come and gone over the years and now top fashion brands AllSaints, COS and Sweat Betty occupy space alongside the independent Everyman Cinema and a growing number of restaurants - three of which are part of The Superlative Collection, a fast-expanding group which also operates the Noble Public House, The Duke’s Umbrella, Glaschu and Göst in the city centre.

Buchanan Street Entrance

Within Princes Square the group’s newest offering is The Delphine, a 130-cover caffè and wine bar with an all-day offering, a book swap club and a private dining/events room (where I heard a certain group of Glasgow Girls regularly meets). It’s an undeniably pleasant space on the courtyard level, close to the cinema, and from our table we overlooked the large, airy performance space (once the square’s cobbled courtyard) and gazed upwards to the breathtakingly gorgeous mall while enjoying a bit of people-watching.

The menu, overseen by the Superlative Collection’s director of food John Molloy and created by Delphine’s head chef Kenny Maltman, was eclectic and fulsome. From a choice of small plates - think halloumi fries, smoked salmon maki sushi, crispy cauliflower or mac’n’cheese bites - our peri peri

chicken quesadilla was a surprising delight. A flat toasted corn tortilla was loaded with spicy chicken pieces that I think were flavoursome thigh meat rather than breast, laid over red peppers and melted cheese and topped with another crispy tortilla and grilled green frigitelli peppers. Pretty to look at and

good to eat - soft, crispy, full of flavour and texture. The steamed vegetable gyozas by contrast were disappointingly bland though their ginger and soy sauce helped a bit.

A Vietnamese salad of brocolli, mango, toasted peanuts and vermicelli noodles was cool and fresh with a citrussy dressing of lime and chilli. More of a lunch choice than a dinner one, perhaps, but I found it more interesting than, say, the creamy pesto rigatoni or chicken Milanese on offer, though I was tempted by the beetroot and bean burger. My choice was happily satisfying with a crisp glass of Albariño

It was also the perfect foil for my partner’s heavier choice of The Delphine Balmoral Burger - two thick beef patties between a toasted milk bun with a filling of haggis and peppercorn sauce. Difficult to photograph a burger, and even more tricky to bite into this one with elegance; he began by quoting

Yeats’ “things fall apart; the centre cannot hold” but soon stopped because he managed it neatly and was mightily impressed both by the structure of the dish and the flavour.

For some reason I’m not usually a fan of desserts (though I do have a sweet tooth) but tonight I went for the mango and passionfruit pavlova even despite our lovely server suggesting his own favourite, the house special Death by Chocolate. The fruit was deliciously tart to offset the super-sweetness of the

two layers of meringue. This dish could have done with a bit more cream but it was nice all the same.

The Delphine is new and the somewhat play-safe menu suggests it is finding its way in unpredictable times. I hope it does. Its delightful team of young, enthusiastic staff deserves it. As does Princes Square itself.

*The Delphine, Princes Square, 48 Buchanan St, Glasgow G1 3JN

Opening hours: Monday-Friday: 9am-11pm, Saturday and Sunday: 10am-12am