Review by Emma Cowing, Food:
Service:
Atmosphere:
Why can't lunch always be this tasty?
EMMA COWING
The Old Armoury
Armoury Road, Pitlochry, Perthshire (01796 474281)
The bill
Lunch for three, £49.05, excluding drinks
Click to learn more...
YOU CAN'T BEAT Perthshire in wintertime. Big skies, rolling hills, a hint of golden colour still blowing through the trees... I love Perthshire because it's one of those wonderful parts of Scotland that is completely accessible from the central belt, and yet a two-day trip to its heartland makes you feel as if you've been roaming the wind-swept wilds for several weeks.
One of my favourite Perthshire towns is Pitlochry, an affection sparked by a romantic birthday weekend a few years back. We wandered down to the fish ladder, took the Killiecrankie walk, wore unflattering woolly jumpers and generally looked as if we belonged in a cut-price Gap advert. What so many folk like about Pitlochry is that it manages to be pretty without being twee, which is probably why it's so often stowed out with tourists.
Finding somewhere decent to eat in Pitlochry however, is not always an easy task, particularly on a busy, tourist-filled afternoon. Catering mainly to the soup-and-a-sandwich tourist trade or luxury weekenders who prefer to eat in their hotels, as a daytripper you could struggle to root out somewhere to linger happily in comfortable surroundings, to feast on some seriously good food.
That is, unless you've discovered The Old Armoury. Tucked away on the road down to the fish ladder it is, as the name might suggest, the former armoury for the Black Watch, although it looks more like a gingerbread cottage nestling in the woodland next to Loch Faskally. On a visit to my parents (who live in another, equally pretty part of Perthshire) and having heard good things, we decided to make an outing of it and head to The Old Armoury for Sunday lunch.
The interior is as pretty as the restaurant's surroundings, and with a cold crisp day nipping at our heels we were relieved to get in to the warmth, where a large, open log fire crackled welcomingly. Black Watch tartan covers the cottage style tables, but the effect is classy and cosy rather than over the top and tacky. After its career hosting heavy duty artillery, the building became a private house, and it still retains a homely feel, with the lounge area boasting several leather armchairs and a windowseat. In summer they put tables outside, where you can hear the rush of the river as you consume a light cream tea.
On a winter's day though, lunch needs to be the sort of thing that fills you up and warms your bones. So you can imagine our delight when we discovered that the three course lunch is a very reasonable £16.35 (two courses £13.95).
For starters, my dad and I both plumped for the open tartlet of roast plum tomatoes with grilled goats cheese on dressed leaves with balsamic reduction and basil pesto. These flavours melded themselves together beautifully. The goats cheese was delicate and tasty, while both the tomatoes and the cheese melted into the elegant slivers of filo pastry.
My mum, meanwhile, went for the creamed finan haddie, which was smoky and strong, the perfect dish for a cold afternoon.
The service here is incredibly friendly. Alison McNab - who does front of house while her husband Angus heads up the kitchen - is warm and welcoming, chatty but not intrusive. The focus is on good food cooked well, served up with a smile.
I opted for the braised shoulder of lamb wrapped in savoy cabbage with roast root vegetable mash for my main course. The lamb, which came in its own cabbage-leaf jacket, was beautifully tender and the juices were meaty and flavoursome, while the mash brought the whole dish together.
My father declared himself more than satisfied, meanwhile, with the medallions of prime Scotch beef fillet on Lyonnaise potatoes with bashed neeps and carrots and a red wine sauce. The beef fillet itself was flavoursome and the red wine sauce tangy, while the neeps and carrots added a nice extra twist to the usual mashed potatoes. First among equals however, was my mother's choice of roast breast of chicken stuffed with haggis on creamy mash, savoy cabbage and coarse grain mustard sauce. This dish was absolutely bursting with flavour. The haggis was a subtle touch (it can so often seem like a sledgehammer on the tastebuds), and the sauce was delightful - the strong, slightly sweet flavour of the mustard complementing the chicken.
We shouldn't have had dessert, but we did. We chose homemade toffee chip ice-cream - as lush and gooey as you could hope for; a vanilla winter berry brulée with buttery homemade shortbread - and a caramelised lemon tart with raspberry coulis and farm cream that resisted the temptation to become too tarty but instead delivered a crisp, crunchy finale to the meal.
All in all it was a superb Sunday lunch. In fact, the worst criticism any of us could come up with was that there was an apostrophe in the wrong place on the menu. Scotland's small towns need more places like this; hidden gems offering great Scottish food at fabulous prices.
Pitlochry is one of Scotland's prettiest towns. The Old Armoury is the restaurant it deserves.
This article: http://living.scotsman.com/food.cfm?id=1850152006
email this page to a friend
