Visit: 1st & 2nd March 2020
Price: ***
Awards: 2 AA Rosettes
Website: https://www.gleneagles.com/dine-drink/the-strathearn/
The Review:
If, like me, you like classical fine dining, silver service, and the elegance of traditional walnut gueridon trolleys, silver cloches and butler trays, then the Strathearn Restaurant at the superb Gleneagles Hotel is for you.
We enjoyed breakfasts, Sunday lunch and an evening meal, and the quality of food and service is outstanding. We also had lunch in the Gleneagles Hotel Century Bar that serves the best beef burger I’ve ever eaten – you can order foie gras on top!
The wine list is as extensive as you would expect, and they use Coravin so you can access some very expensive wines by the glass.
There are only a few restaurants that provide this level of silver service, and I miss the days when dining was this elegant. The quality of the cooking and the wine selection were all extremely high.
This is a superb restaurant in one of the best hotels in the UK. I will be returning!
The Food:
The Restaurant:
The view from the restaurant:
The hotel entrance:
The rear of the hotel, showing the Strathearn Restaurant and newly built Orangery:
The new herb garden has replaced the maze:
Inside the restaurant:
The Century Bar at Gleneagles Hotel:
The Strathearn Restaurant:
The Strathearn Restaurant:
The recently built Orangery extends the Strathearn Restaurant:
The Wine:
For Sunday lunch we started with an aperitif of Dom Perignon, Brut Champagne, 2008. This fabulous champagne scores 4.6 / 5 on Vivino and was awarded 100 / 100 by Falstaff Magazine. It’s a superb champagne, with a bright open bouquet and backgrounds of toast, brioche, yoghurt, apple and flint. It’s made from 53% Pinot Noir and 47% Chardonnay grapes:
To accompany the starters, we had a Gilles Bouton & Fils, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru “La Garenne”, 2017. This Burgundy Cote de Beaune white wine is 100% Chardonnay grapes and scores 3.9 / 5 on Vivino. There is good minerality, but it is not overly oaky or buttery. There is a bouquet of tangerines and lemon, with a slight smokiness. Perfect with the smoked salmon and fish cake starters.
To accompany the Sirloin of beef for Sunday lunch we chose a Chateau Kirwan, Charmes de Kirwan Margaux, 2015. This Bordeaux Left Bank Margaux is deep ruby in colour with black and red fruits on the nose. There are delicate wood notes and soft tannins. It scores 4.0 / 5 on Vivino and is perfect with beef:
The Margaux being decanted:
My favourite wine, Chateau d’Yquem, was chosen to accompany the Caledonian crepes. This was a 1991 vintage that scores 4.6 / 5 on Vivino. It’s a Sauternes from Bordeaux with a golden colour, and notes of honey, apricots and peaches, and a hugely complex, sweet taste. It’s very difficult to describe just how good this is – it’s probably the best wine in the World:
To accompany the cheese, I chose a Graham’s 40-year-old Tawny port. Tawny ports are wines usually made from red grapes that are aged in wooden barrels exposing them to gradual oxidation and evaporation, so they mellow to a golden-brown colour. The exposure to oxygen imparts “nutty” flavours to the wine. When a port is described as tawny, without an indication of age, it is a basic blend of wood-aged port that has spent time in wooden barrels, typically at least three years. “Reserve” tawny port has been aged about seven years. Above this are tawnies with an indication of age, which represent a blend of several vintages. The target age profile, in years in wood, is stated on the label, usually 10, 20, 30 or 40 years. This 40-yer-old has a light, orange tinted colour with dried fruits, caramel and toffee on the nose. It has a concentrated, mellow palate and a long finish. It scores 4.5 / 5 on Vivino:
Carefully pouring the port:
Cognacs to accompany the coffee:
To accompany the lobster ravioli and Scottish halibut, when we dined in the evening at the Strathearn Restaurant, we chose a Heitz Cellar, Chardonnay 2015, from Napa Valley, USA. This white wine scores 3.7 / 5 on Vivino. It has a light straw colour and citrus and stone fruit aromas. On the palate there are peach, pear and lemon, and some minerality with refined oak. Ideal with the fish:
