Callander Restaurant Guide

“Kim & Andy Murray’s culinary adventure is now maturing into a very good country house hotel” indeed – the tennis ace and his wife having bought the property, a Victorian mansion set in secluded countryside near Dunblane, in 2013 (you can take tennis lessons there, but not, alas, from the maestro), and there’s an on-site chapel where his brother Jamie also married. As we went to press, change was afoot: following the recent appointment of James Mearing, replacing longtime chef Darin Campbell, the hotel was set to close in early 2026 as operations shift to creating a new extension-based restaurant (launching May 2026), after which time the current Glasshouse dining room will revert to serving afternoon teas. Here’s hoping the new setting adds to what is already a “stunning location”, and backdrop this year to some “first-class cooking” of local produce – but then again “Cromlix usually gets it right”.

2023 Review: “Well worth the lengthy detour” – “hidden away up a long narrow road”, with views over Lochs Voil and Doine – Tom Lewis’s “unique” boutique hotel puts a contemporary slant on traditional Highlands hospitality, while chef Marysia Paszkowska’s menus rely heavily on home-grown produce.

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.

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”.