A quiet Monday night in Dundee

Even though the programme and the arrangements for my recent business trip to Dundee were virtually the same as the one my colleague and I made three years ago, this time around there was a major improvement, and it was all down to the choice and location of the hotel we stayed at. On the previous occasion we followed the organiser’s recommendation of the Double Tree by Hilton Hotel on the edge of the city. This meant we experienced very little of Dundee itself, so this time around, my colleague booked us rooms at the Hampton by Hilton, an excellent hotel, located in the city centre, and just 15 minutes’ walk from Dundee’s riverfront.

We travelled to Dundee to give a presentation to the sales team of our largest UK customer, who are based in the city. This formed part of what our customer termed, their “January Kick-Off Meeting,” and was an all-day event. Lunch and refreshments were provided, and the event was then followed by an evening meal and entertainment at the Invercarse Hotel, overlooking the Firth of Tay. There was a fancy-dress theme for the evening, but more about that later – perhaps!

Following the same pattern as three years ago, we travelled up the day before the meeting, taking an Easy Jet flight from Gatwick to Edinburgh and then collecting a hire car for the 90 minute drive to Dundee. We returned home, the day after the meeting, which meant three days in total, away from the office. I don’t need to go into more details than that, especially as I don’t wish to repeat myself, but if you really want to know more, you can read about that 2020 trip here

On the morning of our departure, I had a couple of hours spare, so I took a stroll down to the Dundee’s waterfront, overlooking the Firth of Tay. As well as wishing to get some exercise I also wanted to take a few photos during daylight hours, of the pub and the restaurant, we’d visited on our first night in the city. There was a strong, and rather cold, westerly wind blowing, and it wasn’t long before I regretted leaving my woolly hat in the hotel room. I carried on, even though a sensible person would have returned to retrieve it, and manged to get some decent shots of Tony Macaroni – the Italian restaurant we dined at, plus a couple of pubs.

The first of these was Dynamo, a craft beer bar that is part of the Six Degree North chain. The pub had been recommended by a member of the hotel staff, so it was disappointing to find it closed. It was a Monday evening, so perhaps trade is slack at the start of the working week, but despite it not selling any cask, it does gets a mention on CAMRA’s National Inventory, due to having an interior with some regional importance. Fortunately, the Trades House Bar, at the other end of Union Street, was open and impressed by its stained-glass windows, we stepped inside for a closer look.

We were greeted by an interior of high ceilings, supported by pillars, and a bar area divided up into a series of different drinking areas by carefully crafted, carved wooden partitions. There was some interesting cut glass, behind the bar counter, which combined with the woodwork, gave the impression of a solid and characterful, late 19^th Century pub. Belhaven Brewery was the pub’s owner, which effectively meant Greene King, and given the age and feel of the place, it was disappointing not to find any traditional cask ale on sale. Instead, there were a few offerings with a craft feel to them from the GK stable. I chose a 4% session IPA called Level Head, which was hoppy, with a touch of citrus fruitiness, and perfectly drinkable.

We sat at the bar like a couple of Americans, not exactly putting the world to rights, although we came up with a few suggestions for improving things at work. We only stayed for the one beer at the Trades House because we were keen to get something to eat. I noticed that the pub was serving food and mentioned this to my colleague, but his response was the menu was likely to be the standard Greene King fayre. He emphasised he would rather go somewhere that was independently owned, that served food that wasn’t just popped in the microwave and reheated, but instead bore the mark of the chef who created it.

I didn't argue, especially as he was the one with the expense account and the person holding the purse strings. Whilst we’d been sitting at the bar, he’d been looking at his phone and discovered there was an Italian restaurant on the next block. I was happy that we should give this place a try, especially as it was ages since I last dined out on Italian food. We left the Trades House, and walked the short distance to Tony Macaroni, not the most original name for an Italian restaurant but, as we discovered, still rather a good one.

Looking in through the large external windows, Tony’s eatery looked quite busy, and after stepping inside, we noticed that it was spacious and well laid out. After returning home, I discovered that Tony Macaroni operate a small chain of Italian restaurants right across central Scotland, with the odd outlier further north (Aberdeen), and also across the water in Northern Ireland. The group specialises in Italian cuisine, under the motto “Real Italian Food, Always Freshly Prepared.”

They certainly delivered on that last promise, as after being shown to our table, and ordering a couple of beers – Birrificio Angelo Poretti, in keeping with the Italian theme, we were soon tucking into our starters. I went for a bowl of minestrone soup, whilst my colleague opted for some fried chicken. I then had a main course of chicken risotto, whilst my companion had a pizza that was so large it overhung the rim of the plate. There was a nice ambience about the place, and as Dundee has a large student population, young people constituted the majority of the diners, but there were families too, as well as older people like ourselves.

Feeling too stuffed for a dessert, we rounded off the meal with an Irish Coffee each – not especially Italian, but a nice way to end the evening. We had an early start ahead of us, the following morning, so we skipped on the idea of a nightcap back at the hotel and retired instead to our respective rooms.