ONE of the most interesting dining rooms in the city and one of my favourite places, Café Gandolfi has been a fixed point in the Merchant City since 1979.

A stylish Glasgow monument that also serves excellent poached eggs at breakfast – order with Stornoway black pudding or smoked salmon.

The furniture maker Tim Stead, a graduate of the Glasgow School of Art, was asked to make the sinewy, sculpture-like yet comfortable tables and chairs. The furniture is even more beautiful now than it was 43 years ago. Glass painter John Clark installed “A Flock of Fishes”, the two stained glass panels that bring colour to the big main windows.

When the Grand Hotel at Charing Cross was closed in October 1968 and demolished to make way for the new motorway, its distinctive wooden revolving doors were saved and later moved to Café Gandolfi. They are now over 100 years old.

Original owner Iain Mackenzie was a photographer, naming the café Gandolfi after a camera. You can see his pictures of Glasgow cafes from the 1970s still on the walls of this Glasgow classic.

Current owner Seumas MacInnes, custodian of the café since the mid-1990s and part of the team since 1983, doesn’t believe in standing still. The kitchen continues to advance a modern Scottish menu, complimented by recent new details in the restaurant including cushions by Glasgow textile artist Iona Crawford, vases by Saskia Pomeroy and flowers from Vermilion on Pollokshaws Road for a bright spring look.

Evening dishes include steak tartare with brioche, smoked haddock risotto with salsa verde, moules frites or charred leeks with onion mousse, romesco and pistachio. There’s a cocktail menu to enjoy in the bar upstairs from 5pm.

cafegandolfi.com