Brodies of Moffat - my foodie adventure for Scottish Food Fortnight

Labels: black pudding, Brodies, duck, Food, Moffat, restaurant review, Scottish Food and Drink Fortnight, smoked trout

posted by Janice @ 19:34 12 Comments

Dinner at the Elphinstone Restaurant, Biggar

The Ephinstone Hotel and Restaurant is a popular family run former coaching inn located  right in the centre of Biggar in Lanarkshire.  Biggar is a thriving small town located under an hour's drive from Edinburgh and Glasgow. The Elphinstone has been run by Robert and Janette Allan for over 25 years along with their son, Michael. Speaking to Robert, it is clear that he is passionate about the business and very customer focused.

The Elph has a thriving bar which has recently been refurbished to a high standard with a new terrace leading from the function suite at the rear of the hotel.  The hotel has a traditional inn frontage on the high street, although it has been added to over the years, and the dining rooms are a series of small rooms leading one from each other. A new wing of bedrooms was added a few years ago and the hotel has been fully booked during the Commonwealth Games.  They also expect heavy demand for the Edinburgh Festival.

The service in the restaurant was excellent, the waiting staff checked frequently, without intruding, to see if customers needed anything and removed finished plates promptly.  It struck me just how wide a range of customers there were.  Our fellow diners included older couples, families with young children, families with teenagers, young couples and those like ourselves - somewhere in between!  I asked Robert about this and he agreed that The Elphinstone is not aiming for a niche market,  part of their success is having something for everyone.

The menu at The Elphinstone reflects this eclectic customer base and includes traditional pub restaurant classics such as  Prawn Cocktail, Steak and Ale Pie, Lasagne, and Grilled Bacon Steak with double egg.  There is an extensive range of world dishes such as Chicken Pakora, Red Hot Jalapenos,  Beef Chow Mein, Chicken or Vegetable Curry and the fish dishes include Smoked Haddock and Puy Lentil Tart, Grilled Fillet of Salmon in Parma Ham and Grilled Fillet of Sea Bass.  Steaks are also available with various toppings and sauces.

I've probably been watching too much of the Restaurant Man on TV, but it did occur to me that it would have been helpful to have the menu divided into these different categories to help find your way around it.
Anyway, let's get on to what we ate. To start I ordered the Cullen Skink, a traditional Scottish Smoked Haddock, Potato, Leek and Cream Chowder.  It was full of pieces of fish, creamy and well seasoned, although I would have preferred it to be a little bit thickened.

Brian chose the Chilli and Mango King Prawns:  King Prawns coated in Chilli and Mango Jam in a Crispy Breadcrumb.  He really enjoyed them and I had a little taste, they had a nice level of spice and biting through the crispy coating to the sweet mango and chlli jam coated prawn was a good combination of textures and flavours.


For the main course Brian chose the Dunsyre Blue Chicken: grilled breast of chicken smothered in a leek, mushroom and blue cheese sauce.  Being a big fan of blue cheese, he really enjoyed this dish, the chicken was well cooked and the the sauce well seasoned.


I went for one of the Dishes of the Day, a Venison Stroganoff: pan-fried venison steak with a paprika, mushroom and brandy cream sauce.  The venison was beautifully cooked, still pink in the middle and very tender, although I did feel that the flavour was a little overwhelmed by the rich and delicious sauce.

You will have noticed that the vegetable accompaniments to both our meals were the same.   The sugar snap peas and the carrots were cooked well, not over done, and the new potatoes were also very good. However, I think I would have preferred the option of rice with the stroganoff and the mashed turnip really didn't work with either of the dishes.  A more formal presentation of the dishes and perhaps serving the vegetables separately would also have added to the overall appeal.   However, as I have already said, the food  tasted very good and  was cooked perfectly.


Biggar is famous for Taylor's ice cream and the dessert menu at The Elphinstone makes a feature of the range of ice cream and ice cream desserts as well as offering family favourites.

We were pretty full, but thought we should try the ice cream. I had two scoops, one of White Chocolate Chip and the other of Ginger, both were really good.  I loved the ginger which had pieces of preserved ginger through it, delicious.  Brian managed three scoops, Chocolate, Ginger and Coconut and he had no complaints, the chocolate and the ginger getting rave reviews.

Many thanks to the Allan family for their hospitality at 'The Elph'.  I would definitely return and if you are in the area,  passing through Biggar or looking to stay over for a Scottish market town experience, then I would certainly recommend you make a stop at the Elphinstone Hotel and Restaurant.

I was not paid to write this review although we were not required to pay for the meal. . There was no request to write a positive review and all opinions are my own. Apologies for the quality of the photographs.

Labels: Biggar, Chicken, Cullen Skink, Dunsyre, prawns, restaurant review, stroganoff, Taylor's of Biggar, The Elph, TheElphinstone, venison

posted by Janice @ 13:55 5 Comments

Dunblane Hydro and Nick Nairn's Restaurant

After a very disappointing two weeks holiday in June, much of which was spent decorating, we decided to have a weekend away and got a great dinner, bed and breakfast deal at the Doubletree Hilton Dunblane Hydro, not far from Stirling.

The hotel has recently been refurbished and also has it's own leisure centre with pool, gym and spa treatments.  Your room is guaranteed to be ready by 4pm but we arrived early just after lunch time, left our cases at reception and headed off for a pre-booked massage, then spent time lounging by the pool, followed by a swim.

We had a standard room with king size bed.  I've stayed in a few Hilton Hotels on trips for work and they all look pretty much the same. The bed was really comfortable which is more than can be said for many hotel beds!


Ah, the first sight of food!  Yes, you are greeted at reception with warm chocolate chip cookies and they are very delicious.  Sadly, you only get one and there are no little packs of biccies in your room, even on the second day of your stay.  I also thought they were a bit mean with in room coffee packs, especially as the coffee bought in the bar was extortionate.  I have learned never to go near the mini bar, just don't even open the door because it is weight controlled and any disturbance seem to end up with extras on your bill.  Although, they will remove it when they have checked the contents.



We ate, on both nights, in The Kailyard Restaurant by Nick Nairn.  Nick Nairn was involved in creating the restaurant three years ago and includes some tried and tested Nick Nairn classics, identified by his signature beside them on the menu.  There was live music in the restaurant on both nights, the Friday night band were unobtrusive and it was quite nice especially as we ate quite early when we ate and there were quite a few empty seats when we started - soon filled up though.

We ordered some olive bread to accompany our starters.

I chose this 'Classic Cocktail of brown shrimps, Loch Duart smoked salmon 'Nick Nairn', Hass avocado and cocktail sauce'.  Very retro and very nice indeed, there were shrimps and salmon all the way down to the bottom of the glass and the taste was fresh and light.  I gave this 8/10

Brian went for the Tarbert crab and coley fish cake with an Asian slaw, coriander and sweet chilli dressing.  Brian gave this 7/10 as it was pleasant but nothing special.

We both chose the same main course, 'Pan fried Scrabster monkfish. herb crushed potatoes, roast and braised fennel with sauce Jacqueline'.  This dish did not disappoint, the herb crushed potatoes were particularly delicous and brilliant for soaking up the sauce.  The fennel was nicely braised and went well with the monkfish and potatoes.   Definitely an 8/10.
I added a side dish of buttered summer greens which consisted of french beans, peas and asparagus.  I really loved this as a side dish and there was probably enough there for three people.  Brian ordered the Rocket and Parmesan salad, but he also ate some of my vegetables.


We were very full after all that food so decided to order one dessert and two spoons!  We went for Warm Pear and Apricot Crumble with Honeycomb Icecream.  The crumble was a bit disappointing, it was a crumble and I could easily have made it myself.  The Honeycomb icecream was much better, light and creamy with crunchy honeycomb pieces through it and a little shortbread biscuit.

I was not sponsored to write this post, I did not recieve any discount or gifts. These are my own views based on my experience of Dunblane Hydro and The Kailyard Restaurant by Nick Nairn. I'll be back with part two soon!

Labels: chocolate chip cookie, Dunblane Hydro, Hilton, honeycomb, monkfish, Nick Nairn, restaurant review, shrimp

posted by Janice @ 22:18 5 Comments

Sangria at La Tasca, Glasgow

I was so excited to receive an invitation from Becca to join a group of Scottish Food Bloggers to taste the new menu at La Tasca in Renfield Street in the centre of Glasgow, close to both Central and Queen Street Stations.  Special thanks to Jac of Tinned Tomatoes who passed my name on to Becca. 

We were greeted by Becca and Suzanne, the General Manager at La Tasca with the offer of drinks and nibbles.  I loved the Mixed Olives with red pepper, garlic, chilli and herbs, and the lightly salted Marcona almonds were a great contrast.  I had a delicious glass of Rioja and there were also a variety of Sangrias on offer, more of this later.



Once everyone had arrived we were treated to a demonstration of Jamon Serrano carving by Carlos, we then had a chance to try this out ourselves. Jamon is a 10-12 month-month matured serrano ham and should be cut very finely  which is not as easy as it looks! 

Labels: almonds, Cava, Glasgow, Jamon de Serrano, La Tasca, olives, restaurant review, Sangria, Tapas, Tinned Tomatoes

posted by Janice @ 22:17 6 Comments