Pitlochry, Scottish Restaurant Guide

Beyond the Victorian exterior of a former railway hotel, Chris & Andy Rowley’s three-year-old venue (the brothers also own nearby Ballintaggart Farm) is contemporary and cosy in feel. It doesn’t inspire masses of feedback, but all to the effect that it provides “a very good meal accompanied by some interesting wines”. Typical of the menu: “a main of beautifully tender Creedy Carver duck with haggis and blueberry”.

Self-taught couple Tom Tsappis and Matilda Ruffle met at an English pub in Tokyo (he worked in finance, she in advertising) and developed their culinary approach with a supper club at their flat in London before opening this tiny restaurant-with-rooms, where they serve a “superb meal of more than a dozen small courses, beautifully presented, which expertly combines Scottish produce – some of it from their own garden – with flavours from around the world, including Japan. The dishes not only look and taste good but show considerable imagination and skill in their creation”. Chitra Ramaswamy, restaurant critic for The Times in Scotland, hailed the venue in a summer 2025 review as “one of the most exciting and visionary restaurants in Scotland” and praised Ruffle as one of the country’s “most exciting sommeliers”, creating “unconventional” and sometimes “truly bonkers” wine and sake pairings to accompany her husband’s dishes.

Built in 1840, this “grand” Relais & Châteaux hotel sits on 25 acres of shooting country, and it’s “a pleasure to luxuriate there in the several lounges and well-stocked bar”. “Nothing much changes up here, in a good way”, with the “quite old-fashioned style of cooking” (mostly of local game and fish) “done well” and with “very attentive service” to match.