Indulge at Gleneagles: Exploring the Culinary Charms of Restaurant Andrew Fairlie and Beyond

Restaurant Andrew Fairlie Review by ThePrivateTraveller at Gleneagles Hotel

Having meant to have spent the week at Le Sirenuse in Positano Italy but due to Covid restrictions applied late on we had to cancel, we decided at short notice to book a few nights at The Gleneagles Hotel near Auchterarder followed by The Fife Arms in Braemar. You can read my full Gleneagles hotel review here.

There were many dining choices available at Gleneagles, which I will write about later, but booking so late we were left with limited choices of where we could eat and what times. I had particularly wanted to eat one evening at the fine-dining (but casual) two Michelin starred restaurant within the hotel, but we were told nothing was available for any night of our stay. The restaurant reservations for Andrew Fairlie seemed to be managed by that specific restaurant themselves rather than the ‘Glorious Playground’ planners for all other facilities, and after being placed on a waiting list were so pleased to get a call on the Tuesday to advise there was an available slot that evening for dinner. It was such a wonderful experience that I took pictures of all the courses and will show them here.

---

Restaurant Andrew Fairlie

Menu choices

There was an initial choice of either a seven-course tasting/Degustation menu priced at £155 (£140 for the vegetarian version) or A La Carte - this could be either a three-course set dinner at £115 (starter/main course/dessert) or four-course option at £145 (including an additional intermediate course) or you could choose whatever options you wanted and these were all priced individually. We opted for the three-course A La Carte option and there was both a vegetarian and non-vegetarian option for both.

Ambience

The restaurant is located between the Strathearn (main) Dining Room in the hotel and the Ballroom, on the ground floor of the Main House. Restaurant Andrew Fairlie has a subtle entrance off the hallway - from arrival through to departure, we just loved the experience. Though casual, the restaurant had a lovely atmosphere - all diners were socially-distanced and all staff wore masks throughout. On arrival, the table had only a (designer) bottle of hand sanitizer and once seated were glasses, cutlery, napkins and menus brought. All menus were single-use but it was a nice memento to be able to keep it, to remind ourselves of the delicious food we enjoyed. Service throughout was just exemplary, attentive but not oppressively so and we were given just the right amount of time between courses. Drinks (though nothing alcoholic available at the moment because of the additional Scottish Government ‘reset’ rules) were regularly topped up and at the end, we were given the petit fours to take away in a box as we were full by that point and the restaurant (again Government regulations) had to be vacated by 10pm.

Dinner

Canapés

In addition to the chosen three-courses, there were an extra three canapés to begin with each - all perfect vegetarian options for me (without mushrooms) and comparable (non-vegetarian) options for ‘Mrs’ ThePrivateTraveller. Not being on the menu, I must confess that I now can’t remember what they all were in detail, but what I can say is that they were all amazing.

Starter

For a starter I opted for Beetroot: Salt Baked Beetroot & Winter Radish, Poached Apple, Candied Walnuts. As we had seen out on a walk around the hotel grounds, there was a small sunken garden from where some produce was grown for the restaurant use. Where not possible from the hotel garden, all ingredients were locally sourced where possible.

Main Course

I chose Pavé: Sweet Potato & Swiss Chard Pavé, Red Rice, Lime Leaf & Celeriac Velouté.

Dessert

It was hard to choose as all five options sounded incredible, but I finally opted for Bramble: Honey & Lavender Posset, Bramble Cake, Milk Ice Cream. Also good to get an additional pallet cleanser between the main course and dessert, and we were offered an additional cheese course, which we declined.

My Opinion of the Restaurant Andrew Fairlie Dining Experience

What a wonderful dining experience - service, ambience, food choice, food quality, presentation and the surroundings were all second to none. Absolutely delicious meal with the addition of home-made breads, all the canapés and extra pallet cleanser, as well as take-away petit fours for afterwards. Definitely a worthwhile experience when staying at the hotel.

---

Other Hotel Options- Restaurants

Breakfast

For breakfast, the only two options were the Strathearn or the Dormy Club House. Definitely the one to choose if you have the option is the Strathearn; the Dormy had limited choices and (while probably good if you were a golfer waiting to hit the course) we felt it was definitely an inferior option when not able to eat in the main hotel. The Strathearn, which would normally feature an extensive buffet as well as a la carte, for now with Covid restrictions was completely a la carte only. Although casual for breakfast, the Strathearn is more formal in the evening.

Lunch/All-day Dining

Lunch options were again the Dormy Club House (open throughout), the Birnam Brasserie which opens daily from 12-2pm and also the Garden Café.

Afternoon Tea

Afternoon tea is served in the Glendevon Lounge, but only selected days Friday through Monday 1-4pm. We weren’t there during those days but we did have an incredible afternoon tea at The Fife Arms, our next stop - look out for my next blog post there.

Dinner

We had one dinner in the Dormy, but again it was lacking something in terms of atmosphere - the food choice was good, as was service, but wasn’t the best dinner choice. Our best dinner, by far, was in Andrew Fairlie, as I described above. We did also eat another night in the Birnam Brasserie and this was good - great food choice, presentation, service and location/atmosphere. The incredible highlight here was a mille-feuille dessert which should have been served with a chocolate sauce, but with a high intolerance for caffeine (even the tiny amount in dark chocolate if served at night), they happily changed this to a warm butterscotch sauce instead - wow!

---

Other Hotel Options- Bars

Although the hotel has 4-5 bars - Auchterarder 70 (in the Dormy Club House), The American Bar, The Blue Bar and The Century Bar (as well as another impressive bar area in the Birnam Brasserie & Trattoria; with the additional Covid restrictions the only option for alcohol was a newly created outside bar - the Garden Bar, sponsored by Moet & Chandon. We were lucky enough to get a table outside one evening before dinner - here there are socially distanced tables and chairs under a canopy, with heaters and blankets provided. I’m normally a gin fan (as you’ll see if anyone has followed my other IG profile this.mans.journal) but with the bar being inspired by Moet I tried the Pepper & Berry Champagne Cocktail - a mix of strawberry with pink peppercorn and citrus with Moët & Chandon Impérial.

---

Useful website links:

• The Private Traveller’s Hotel review - The Gleneagles Hotel

• Le Sirenuse Positano

• The Fife Arms Braemar

• Moët et Chandon

• Restaurants

  • Restaurant Andrew Fairlie

  • The Strathearn

  • The Dormy

  • The Birnam

  • The Garden Café

• Menus

  • The Strathearn Breakfast & Dinner

  • The Dormy All Day Menu

  • Andrew Fairlie Drinks and various Menus

  • The Birnam Brasserie & Trattoria Lunch & Dinner

  • The Garden Café All Day Menu

---