Restaurant review: The Two Sisters Restaurant

Published on Friday 24 July 2009 13:39

AS THEY whizz past at breakneck speed on the journey up the A9 to the Highlands, half of Scotland must have looked over at East Haugh House at some stage and wondered whose idea it was to open a hotel so close to one of Scotland's main roads. The answer is Neil and Lesley McGown, a couple of experienced hoteliers who have turned this 350-year-old former Atholl Estate turreted stone house into one of the nation's more successful country hotels over the past 20 years.

Part of the secret to this success is undoubtedly the fact that, once inside the hotel, you would never know you're a couple of hundred yards from the main artery to the north. You can barely hear the road; instead, you're in a small, family-run establishment that has won a stack of awards over the past five years – including Best Scottish Country Sports Hotel and Scottish Fishing Hotel of the Year.

These awards give an indication of the McGowns' lifelong passion for fishing, deer stalking and shooting, plus a clue as to their location. If you head into the hills, there's stalking or pheasant, grouse and partridge shooting, while if you go on to the river for fishing the hotel has the three-mile Dalmarnock beat on the Tay, all of which ensures you're reasonably likely to find yourself propping up the bar in the company of some pretty hearty types.

The clientele has an important upside. People who spend hefty sums on shooting and fishing don't tend to stint on their grub, and in Neil McGown – a relaxed and cheery raconteur who is as at home behind the bar as he is in the kitchen – they've found a chef who produces superb traditional Scottish food, which perhaps accounts for his Chef Medaille D'Or for Dinner Excellence and for the restaurant being named Best Speciality Restaurant in this year's Bank of Scotland Restaurant Awards.

Yet this is no hearty comfort food. While McGown uses local ingredients, much of it caught or shot by himself, his aim is clearly fixed at the top end of the market. As well as the usual set menu, there are also special nights when this is supplemented by a seven-course seafood or eight-course game taster menu.

McGown's menu is so well-constructed that there was nothing on it I wouldn't have been happy to try, and the meal started off well. My starter of confit belly of pork with cauliflower pure, quince jelly and ground pistachios was beautifully nuanced, with the tartness of the quince neatly drawing out the flavour of the pork. Will's home-smoked sea trout and seared scallops with avocado and mango salsa was an equally successful combination.

If our starters were good, our main courses were even better. My char-grilled fillet of Angus beef and confit of shin, which came with creamed potato and a superb wild mushroom gravy, was arguably the most tender, succulent beef I have ever eaten. Nor did Will have any complaints about his hefty portion of loin of lamb, which came with royal potatoes, crushed garden peas and rosemary jus. It might not have taken the breath away in the way my beef did, but it was still excellent.

We rounded off with a selection of cheeses and a hot chocolate fondant with peach and ginger ice-cream, both of which disappeared slowly but surely after such a monumental meal. The final touch was a plate of excellent hand-made chocolates and a coffee in the lounge next to the fire.

We spent the rest of the evening in the bar, chewing the cud with other diners and exploring the lesser-known nooks and crannies of a particularly interesting whisky collection. Despite the hotel's success and the fact that it has four stars, the atmosphere at East Haugh remains family-run and home-spun, with Neil manning the bar and Lesley floating around while the two daughters (after whom the Two Sisters Restaurant is named) – house manager Sophie and her sister Emma – are also regularly in attendance.

If the service is good and the food even better, this does come at a price. A set menu of 45 is probably at the outer reaches of most people's price range, and places this firmly in the category of a treat rather than everyday eating. But then the food does justify the star billing.

Vital statistics

The Two Sisters Restaurant East Haugh House Hotel, Pitlochry, Perthshire (01796 473121, www.easthaugh.co.uk)

Out of pocket Set menu 45 Tasting menu 59.95 (on selected dates only)

Rating 8.5/10