Loma by Graeme Cheevers review by Cate Devine

The view

There is a muted elegance in the Baronial castle that is the five-star Cameron House by Loch Lomond, built by William Spence in 1830 and once host to the likes of Princess Margaret and the Empress Eugenie of France. The dark hues of stained woodwork and subdued designer wallpapers of the refurbished reception area lends a pleasing air of modern solemnity when I visit on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

Then I climb the carpeted stairway to Loma, the new restaurant by Graeme Cheevers, and all that changes. Through beautifully etched glass doors, I’m embraced by light tones of putty and eau-de-nil, gorgeous floral arrangements, high-end furnishings and French designer crockery. Unlike Unalome, there’s no open kitchen or fancy music. Loma’s gentle, assured, contemporary elegance immediately puts paid to memories of the restaurant’s former incarnation and of the devastating fire that destroyed it in 2017.

The dining room

At the time, head chef Cheevers had retained a Michelin star for the restaurant, Martin Wishart at Loch Lomond, for seven years, and told me he was so devastated that at his lowest point he “thought he was done”. He eventually opened his first solo venture, Unalome, in Glasgow’s West End, where he has retained a Michelin star for three consecutive years.

Now he’s back where he started and has appointed Max Thompson as Loma’s head chef to work alongside him. Thompson has worked with Cheevers for four years at Unalome, and the career progression seems fitting (Conor McCollum is head chef at Unalome). The menus at Loma are detailed and name high-end, predominantly Scottish produce by provenance, with nods to both classic French cuisine and south-east Asia: there’s Orkney gold beef and whipped foie gras with preserved beetroot and purple shiso, North Sea turbot grilled over binchotan and served with ginjo sake; West Coast lobster prepared with kaffir lime, and scallop with wasabi.

My lunch of cured Eduardo Sousa ethical foie gras (raised in Spain without gavage) is beautiful to look at - marinated in Madeira, topped with a disc of apricot gel, dotted with citrussy hits and finished with a marinated Tulameen raspberry - and is an expertly balanced mouthful of creamy, smooth liver and citrussy bursts. A slice of glazed amakaze milk bread is a welcome companion to the dish (no butter necessary). A generous main of roasted monkfish tail with potato dumpling in a vin jaune sauce is absolutely on point and tantalisingly sea-fresh. A pink St Brides Farm duck breast with pea and

asparagus tastes delicious. I find a dessert of whipped Knockraich yogurt mousse with Tulameen raspberry delightfully light with a pleasingly restrained sweetness.

Precision, restraint and flair are apparent in every dish. Service is professional, knowledgeable and friendly. And the view across Loch Lomond to Ben Lomond simply takes the biscuit.

When we chat briefly after lunch, and before I can even broach the subject, Chef Cheevers declares that he is aiming for a Michelin Star for Loma.

“Cards on the table,” he says. “I’m ambitious and want a Star.”

Chef Thompson adds:

“Of course I want a Michelin Star for Loma. Why would I come here and not want that?”

Why not, indeed.

Loma by Graeme Cheevers, Cameron House Hotel. Loch Lomond, West

Dunbartonshire G83 8QZ.

Reservations@lomabygc.com or 01389 310 760.

Open Wed-Fri 6 pm-late; Sat-Sun 12 pm-3 pm; closed Mon and Tues.