We recently had the pleasure of visiting Killiecrankie House, located in the heart of Highland Perthshire, featuring a high-end restaurant, five tastefully decorated bedrooms, a drawing-room, and a cocktail bar. Run by Chef Tom Tsappis and his sommelier wife Matilda guests are welcomed like old friends to their Cairngorm National Park oasis of luxury and gastronomy.
Tom, who trained at Leiths and was the first recipient of two of the prestigious yearly awards, and his wife Matilda, who formerly managed the famed supper club Elia London, have developed a luxury hideaway as a food-lovers getaway. The multi-course tasting menu is something to be raved about, with the most fantastic atmosphere, and luxurious yet relaxed setting, read on to find out more about our recent stay at Killiecrankie House.
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Location & Setting
Killiecrankie is located in the heart of Scotland, 90 minutes from both Glasgow and Edinburgh, and is surrounded by picturesque woods, streams, and battle sites, such as Soldier’s Leap, where a Red Coat famously leapt 18ft over the River Garry to escape the Jacobites in 1689, nearby guests can also explore Blair Castle and its stunning Hercules Garden.
Although the hotel could be seen as rather formal, since tasting menus are traditionally rather stiff and starchy, the couple have made a point to create a relaxed space. They describe it as “comfortable luxury”, with mid-century modern furniture, exposed stone, wood and pops of colourful and quirky interior.
Restaurant & Bar
Owners, Tom and Matilda have created a tasting menu that genuinely reflects Scotland, providing guests with not just a taste of the country’s food but also a representation of what Scots actually enjoy eating, drawing inspiration from both current and traditional recipes with an exciting twist. Working with local suppliers and incorporating homegrown and foraged ingredients from their own garden, each dish also has its own special anecdote.
From Wednesday through Sunday, a single set menu is served, providing visitors in the dining room and at the chef’s counter in the heart of the kitchen the occasion to taste a variety of local cuisine in a unique and interesting way.
The tasting menu we were treated to and features permanent dishes, includes venison tartare, squid from the Moray Firth cooked in its own ink stew, dripping fried porridge, and a drunken oyster, which was by far one of our favourite dishes – a bbq’d Argyll oyster, topped with a Glenmorangie whisky hollandaise and finished with PX vinegar, inspired by the distillery’s repopulation of the Dornoch Firth with oysters.
Of the 17-courses, another favourite dish of ours had to be the “North Ronaldsay Sheep” – inspired by the seaweed-eating sheep of the Orkneys, a seaweed ice cream, home-made sheep’s milk cheese, meringue of burnt milk and seaweed, and a sheep’s milk dulce de leche, make for the most lightly sweet and moreish dessert.
Pre and post-dinner cocktails may also be enjoyed by the fireside, overlooking the kitchen gardens, in the Drawing Room whilst enjoying the hotel’s old-school record player, or in the bijou Cocktail Bar with its stunning marble countertop and feathery pink Murano glass chandeliers.
From Wednesday through Sunday, the single set menu is served, providing visitors in the dining room and at the chef’s counter in the heart of the kitchen the occasion to taste a variety of local cuisine in a unique and interesting way. The menu, which costs £85 (plus £65 for a drinks pairing) or £450 including bed and breakfast in one of their five rooms.
Rooms
Upstairs in the 1840s Georgian home, there are four spacious four-poster guest rooms and a master suite (which includes a chef’s table experience), each one individually structured due to the history of the home.
All of rooms include a freestanding roll-top tubs for utmost relaxation, as well as rain-fall showers with Laura Thomas Co products. The views of the Perthshire landscape from the bedroom windows are spectacular, with the colour scheme indoors being equally serene in a refined deep blue with dark wood floors and quirky touches of colour in the artwork and the magnificently hand-painted wash basins. Downstairs guests can enjoy a large lounge area with modern art, plush sofas, a cookbook library, 1960s record player, and a fantastic selection of old records to choose from. There is a true sense of welcome and as though you are staying at an old friend’s countryside home for the weekend.
After a great night’s sleep on the humungous cloud-like beds, guests can stroll downstairs to breakfast, which is served in the dining room at 9 a.m. Again, all of the ingredients are locally sourced and presented with the same flare and presentation that dinner is served, but a little more typical with bacon, eggs, and salmon – all cooked and served by the wonderful Tom and Matilda.
For more on Killiecrankie visit www.killiecrankiehouse.com.
The tasting menu is priced at £85 per person. An alcoholic drinks pairing can be added for £65 per person and a non-alcoholic drinks pairing is priced at £45.
The art-deco cocktail bar is open from noon to 11pm to residents and non-residents.
KeiKei is a London-based award-winning journalist and videographer with a degree in Broadcast Media and Journalism from the University of the West of Scotland and an extensive reporting background in news, entertainment, travel, and lifestyle.
KeiKei has travelled the globe interviewing, reporting and reviewing. Her work has been published in worldwide media outlets including, The New York Post, The Guardian, The Mirror, The Daily Mail, National Geographic and Conde Nast publications.
