Ballater Restaurant Guide

Owned by ArtFarm (from Hauser + Wirth) and opened by nearby Balmoral resident, King Charles (when he was still Prince Charles in 2019), this “large dining room in the Fife Arms Hotel in Braemar” is an eclectic mix of Scottish Baronial styling mixed with natty wallpaper, swirly muralled ceilings and ‘with it’ artworks (the “most memorable thing about dinner is the large stuffed stag that dominates the restaurant and the sound of the waterfall outside”). But reports were very mixed this year. A local says that it’s “head and shoulders above anything else in this sparsely populated neighbourhood, but you’re paying Mayfair prices for food aimed at the starving hill walkers market!”. Diners who’ve made more of a journey are much less forgiving. One noted a “very poor afternoon tea experience, not at all up to scratch for a five star establishment”. Another felt “this place gets worse and worse – they just don’t seem to be able to get the staff”. Top Tip – “The secret for those who go frequently is to make a booking at the pop up restaurant by the courtyard. Smaller, more modern and with a limited menu of fresh product beyond the haunch of venison signature”.

“If it’s good enough for Queen Camilla…” – the King and Queen graced this “innovative fish restaurant” a few miles from Balmoral when it opened in 2023 and it has done them proud, setting “a standard which is not easy to find in the Highlands” with “fish as perfectly cooked as you would expect”. Last year it launched its first spin-off branch, 3,000 miles away in Washington DC – which might sound bizarre were it not for the fact that it is part of Artfarm, the international hospitality outfit founded by Swiss art dealers Manuela & Iwan Wirth, which also owns the Fife Arms in Braemar and hotels, restaurants and pubs in the US, England and Europe. Top Tip – “the set lunch is excellent value”.