Amaryllis restaurant to resurface as Room

The team behind Room restaurant in Leeds is to take over the site of Amaryllis, the former Gordon Ramsay restaurant at Glasgow's One Devonshire Gardens hotel.

The Michelin-starred restaurant has lain dormant since Ramsay closed it in January after incurring losses of about £200,000 a year.

Now Room Holdings, run by restaurateurs John Pallagi and Simon Wright, plans to open a Room Glasgow on the site later this summer.

Their Room Leeds restaurant won the Best Independent Marketing Campaign award at last year's Catey awards.

A month ago Pallagi confirmed he was looking at venues across the country, with three sites already earmarked, and the intention to expand to five within five years.

As well as Amaryllis, the company has been linked to sites in Sheffield and Newcastle.

Room Glasgow will be split over six rooms and will offer a Martini cocktail bar, four restaurant rooms and a private dining room.

Pallagi said: "Moving into Gordon Ramsay's old restaurant is certainly a challenge as he is a major celebrity and a fantastic chef, but we are offering a completely different dining experience to that of Amaryllis.

"There is a lot of similarity between the cities of Leeds and Glasgow and I am confident that Glaswegians will embrace the Room experience."

Stephen McCorkell, general manager of One Devonshire Gardens, added: "We are confident that Room Glasgow will appeal in equal measure to Glaswegians and hotel residents from outside the city."

by Nic Paton

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