Ballater Restaurant Guide

2021 Review: “A great representation of modern Scottish cooking: when they say locally sourced ingredients they literally mean within yards of the building…”. This “scenic country house” sits on the MacRobert Estate in the Scottish Highland; its Library dining room (open weekends only) serves chef David Butler’s six-course tasting menu that’s “creative and full of flavour”. At other times (including afternoon tea) you can eat in their more brasserie-style conservatory, overlooking the gardens. (“The hotel overall is a charity and all the profits from it go back into the MacRobert Trusts”).

Not everywhere is opened by the future King, but Prince Charles – as he then was – helped open the doors on this ArtFarm (from Hauser + Wirth) venture down the road from Balmoral in 2019. The art is more outré than the contemporary and relatively conventional ingredient-led modern Scottish dishes, but the environs make for an interesting meal in these parts (although as one keen-eyed repeat visitor notes: “a lot of the great art which was there at the opening seems to have moved on and some furniture which was in the bedrooms when the place launched has gone too. They are art dealers after all…”)

“A little gem” (“in an area where food is often mediocre”) – this “small but trendy restaurant with great seafood and great decorations, and a separate fish shop attached”, is a “really special place to visit”. Chef Marcus Sherry, who runs it with his wife Jasmine, places “emphasis on freshness and availability”, sourcing most of his supplies from small fishing ports on Scotland’s northeast coast. Part of ArtFarm, the international group that also owns the Fife Arms in Braemar, it lives up to the hype surrounding its April 2023 launch, which included a visit from the King and Queen. Top Menu Tips – “there’s a brilliant set-price lunch menu”, and “the partan bree (crab soup) is not to be missed”.