Bridge Of Allan, Scottish Restaurant Guide

“Hidden deep in the Gleneagles Hotel”, this formidable dining room is considered by many to be Scotland’s flagship venue for fine dining. Named for the late Andrew Fairlie, who passed away in 2019, its renown has been successfully maintained by chef Stephen McLaughlin, who has worked here since the restaurant first opened in 2001. There are à la carte options here, priced from £145 per person for three courses, or there is a ‘Degustation’ menu at £195 per person for seven courses – of the latter, feedback says that “every course is incredible” and there’s also “particular praise for the sommelier” Frenk Trouw and his “outstanding” advice. GM of 23 years, Dale Dewsbury, retired in 2025, to be replaced by Californian James Ashton, who’s been at the hotel for ten years.

The “fabulous” traditional dining room of this famous resort hotel – less aspirational than its near-neighbour Restaurant Andrew Fairlie – is still going strong after just over a century. Its modern Scottish cooking is certainly “not the cheapest”, but inspired consistently supportive feedback in this year’s annual diners’ poll. Recommendations include for “the best breakfast anywhere” and slap-up Sunday lunch.

2024 Review: Handy for Stirling Castle and the train station, this well-established venture has won an embarrassment of accolades over the years, including ‘Restaurant of the Year – Scotland’ at the country’s 2022 Food Awards. Reporters love its “retro menu of good old-fashioned cooking” (haggis with mash, chicken supreme), “though the layout and ambience make it feel a little more like a café than a really good eatery, which is what it is”.

2024 Review: No reports as yet on this spring 2023 newcomer – the latest opening in the expanding empire of MasterChef: The Professionals 2018 finalist Dean Banks. But The Scotsman’s Gaby Soutar is a fan – in her February 2023 review she noted that the “foraging theme only seems to extend as far as the branding” with a menu that only “features the prerequisite pub classics, like fish ’n’ chips, Sunday roast, pies” along with some “fancier bits”. But she concluded that “Scotland has another excellent country pub”.

Scottish celeb chef Nick Nairn’s “really beautiful” outpost on the edge of the Trossachs National Park, comprising restaurant, lifestyle shop ‘Home by Julia Nairn’ (Nick’s wife) and cookery school. The brasserie-style fare features some “lovely dishes for grown-ups” (“so good we came back the next day for more”), ranging from the crowd-pleasing ‘Paul’s Pizza’ section of the menu to more “elevated” dishes. Best of all, though, is the “relaxed vibe” and gorgeous garden featuring a heated stretch tent. Alas, the Nairn empire has just lost a link – the chef recently closed his Bridge of Allan restaurant (latterly branded ‘Nairn’s’) just a year after reopening following fire damage – but on the plus side many of the staff have been re-routed to this venture.