Scotland is showing off her autumnal majesty when we visit the Perth and Kinross area for a weekend jaunt. Known as ‘Big Tree Country’ we visit The Birnam Oak which is 500 years old and features in ‘The Scottish Play’. A Sunday walk along the silvery ‘Tay’ and we are shin-deep in crispy leaves.
Our home for the weekend is The Red House Hotel in Coupar Angus. It is a functional hotel with leisure facilities, a bar, a restaurant and, somewhat bizarrely, a squash court in the lounge bar. We take advantage; 5:2 to Mr Bite. Our room is spacious and warm and the hotel is well-placed and competitively priced for all the activities the area offers such as cycling, walking, fishing and sightseeing. There is an Italian hunting party staying when we visit. The food is pedestrian and filling; there are much better eateries around and The Dalmore Inn which shares owners with The Red House has to be one of the best.
We first visited immediately post-covid and I wondered if my memory of Chef Iain Naysmith’s food had been influenced by deprivation. A second visit confirms that the answer is a resounding no - Iain’s cooking is special.
Mr Bite orders a potato and smoked garlic soup from the specials menu which warms the cockles while I tuck into a generous portion of salmon rillettes with mackerel pate as fresh as if the fish had leapt from one of the nearby rivers, The Tay or The Isla, onto my plate. Garnishes of cucumber, dill and butter-drenched crostini demonstrate chef kens what he is doing.
For my main course, sea bream fillet sits on a plate of langoustine risotto cooked in fish stock. Fat shellfish squat here too and tomatoes are stuffed with Provençal ratatouille. Thick discs of pork belly come with a copper pot of cider apple gravy, carrots confit have a herby crust and fondant potatoes are puffy light inside a crispy case. Portions are hearty.
When in berry country, order dessert! A redcurrant sorbet is mouth-puckeringly good although billed as a mere accompaniment to chocolate and Drambuie cremeux with a cracknel-style honey nut flapjack. I have a bosomy whisky and honey mousse with salted caramel ice cream, shortbread and raspberries; a dessert that has everything.
Hospitality these days too often has to tighten its belt and cut corners but this is not the case at The Dalmore; rather Iain Naysmith pulls out all the stops (he does have Le Gavroche on his CV).
This modest Gastro pub should be heaving at Sunday lunchtime. My only criticism is that the portions are too big. No worries, you can walk it off or build an appetite with many of the walks nearby.
The Dalmore is an archetypal hidden gem.
