Latest news with #TheKinneucharInn
Daily Record
12-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Record
Scotland's six best restaurants named at prestigious National Restaurant Awards
Here are the top eateries in the country. Scotland's top restaurants were crowned earlier this week at the National Restaurant Awards. The list of 100 is described as the "definitive guide to the UK's best restaurants". Revealed on Monday, June 9, a total of six Scottish restaurants are featured on the prestigious roundup. Three Edinburgh eateries are included, as well as restaurants in Perth and Kinross, Fife, and Argyll and Bute. The Daily Record has compiled a list of all of the restaurants in Scotland named on the National Restaurant Awards' top 100. From fine dining establishments to trendy venues that won't break the bank, there is something for everyone. Read on for the six Scottish restaurants that were named among the best in the UK at the National Restaurant Awards. The full list can be found on the National Restaurant Awards website. Lyla, Edinburgh The highest-placing Scottish restaurant on the list, coming in at number 17, is Lyla. The fine dining restaurant, which has been recognised with a Michelin star, is located on Royal Terrace in the Scottish capital. As reported by the Daily Record, Lyla champions Scotland's natural larder. It sources line-caught fish and shellfish from the Scottish islands, as well as organic meats and vegetables. The restaurant serves up a 10-course tasting menu between Wednesday and Saturday that is priced at £165 per person. It also offers a five or seven-course lunch menu, costing £65 and £95 per person respectively. The Glenturret Lalique, Crieff The Glenturret Lalique placed at number 41 on the National Restaurant Awards' list. Housed within the iconic Glenturret whisky distillery, it has received two Michelin stars. The restaurant's menu takes inspiration from The Glenturret, as well as Scotland's stunning landscapes. Its food was praised by the National Restaurant Awards for being "playful in concept but always graceful and elegant". Priced at £220 per guest, The Glenturret Lalique's sample dinner menu includes dishes such as BBQ Orkney scallop XO, line caught bream, and 'Bisque-it'. The Kinneuchar Inn Next up is The Kinneuchar Inn in the village of Kilconquhar. The 17th-century pub and restaurant came in at number 66. The Kinneuchar Inn was noted by the National Restaurant Awards for its "good-value daily-changing à la carte menu that celebrates seasonal, locally sourced ingredients". It also earned praise for its "down-to-earth" atmosphere. Guests at The Kinneuchar Inn can enjoy dishes such as tagliatelle with Trombetta courgette, basil, and pecorino and grilled Balcaskie mutton chop with Manteca beans, kale, and green sauce. Other options include roast hake with braised fennel, chickpeas, monk's beard, and aïoli and white peach with goat's curd, oak leaf, and hazelnut. Inver, Argyll and Bute Inver is a small restaurant nestled along the shores of Loch Fyne that specialises in simply prepared fresh seafood and native meat and game in season. It placed at number 78 on the National Restaurant Awards' roundup. The restaurant was noted by the experts for its commitment to sustainability. Inver previously became among the first restaurants to be awarded a Michelin Green Star—recognising sustainable gastronomy. Inver's tasting menu is priced at £115 and includes dishes such as scallop with white asparagus and argan and potato handkerchiefs springtime onions. There is also an à la carte menu available, with dishes like Arbroath smokie broth with scallop dumplings and green asparagus and spring chicken terrine with white asparagus and dandelion shoots. The Little Chartroom, Edinburgh Elsewhere, The Little Chartroom in Edinburgh came in at number 79 on the roundup. Situated in the Scottish capital's buzzy Leith district, the eatery serves up a small menu of high-end dishes. The restaurant was described as "low key", but was noted for its modern interiors. Meanwhile, the food itself was praised for its "great confidence and imagination". The Little Chartroom offers both three and five-course dinner menus, priced at £73 and £95 respectively. Dishes include St. Bride's duck breast and leg pastilla with cauliflower, courgette, and apricot and wild garlic fazzoletti with asparagus, pheasant back mushroom, and caramelised cream. The Palmerston, Edinburgh Finally, The Palmerston in Edinburgh is the last Scottish restaurant to be included on the National Restaurant Awards' list of 100. The retro restaurant and bakery is known for its old-fashioned decor and daily-changing menu of locally sourced dishes. The Palmerston was applauded for its "familiar and comforting" atmosphere, as well as its varied menu. The restaurant was also noted for its affordable prices, with a three-course set lunch menu costing less than £25. Visitors to The Palmerston can enjoy dishes such as fish stew with cod, hake, mussels, violet artichoke, fennel, and aïoli and roast turbot with asparagus, sea spinach, agretti, and hollandaise. There is also a huge variety of desserts to choose from, including everything from tarts to trifle.
The Courier
11-06-2025
- Business
- The Courier
Fife's Kinneuchar Inn finally among UK's top 100 restaurants - here's why I'm not surprised
Although it is impossible to say for certain, an oft-repeated estimate is that there are well over 30,000 restaurants operating in the UK at any given time. Whittling this number down to a top 100 is a task of gargantuan proportions. One the National Restaurant Awards manages to complete annually. This year's awards took place on Monday June 9, and two Courier Country restaurants made the cut. For the first time in the restaurant's history, The Kinneuchar Inn was one of them. I spoke to James Ferguson – who runs the Kilconquhar restaurant alongside Alethea Palmer – back in May, a few days after he'd found out they'd made the shortlist. 'We're really happy,' he told me. 'We've got a good following in the industry and good friends in the industry.' The fact The Kinneuchar Inn ended up being named the 66th best restaurant in the UK at these awards is a testament to its popularity. The National Restaurant Awards ranking is dictated by votes taken from the industry's leading chefs, restaurateurs and writers. That said, the honour still seems well overdue. The Kinneuchar Inn has long held a reputation as a restaurateur's restaurant thanks to its nose-to-tail ethos and the generous, seasonal dishes the team serve. On a given night, customers can expect everything from Pittenweem surf clams with leeks, cider and dulse to pig's head croquettes. To make matters even better, several of the restaurant's main courses are priced under £25. Other restaurants that offer this style of honest, well-executed and affordable food – such as The Palmerston in Edinburgh – have been named in the National Restaurant Awards' top 100 several years in a row. Naturally, this has added to many people's convictions that it was only a matter of time until The Kinneuchar Inn made the list. Still, James and the team were delighted when the news finally came through. 'We've had a lot of support from other restaurants in Scotland. Loads of them got in touch when it was announced we'd made the shortlist,' he told me with a smile. The vast majority of restaurants named in the top 100 specialise in fine dining. It seems many in the industry still think expensive tasting menus are the ultimate expression of gastronomy. An example of such a menu comes from Crieff's The Glenturret Lalique Restaurant, which was named the 41st best restaurant in the UK at this year's National Restaurant Awards. The restaurant – which boasts two Michelin stars – is known for producing an extensive tasting menu that costs £220 per person. When eating at Glenturret, diners can expect to enjoy excellent dishes that pay homage to Scottish produce. These include the likes of juniper-smoked roe deer and barbecued Orkney scallops. The same can be said of this year's highest rated Scottish restaurant, Lyla. Here, a 10-course tasting menu focuses on sustainable Scottish seafood. It costs £165 per head. And yet, I still find myself drawn towards The Kinneuchar Inn. Maybe I just like an underdog, but there is something infinitely refreshing about seeing a relaxed, rural and affordable restaurant breaking into the UK's most prestigious restaurant list.
The Courier
20-05-2025
- Business
- The Courier
The Kinneuchar Inn and Aeble team up for cider-paired supper club in Kilconquhar
Despite often being packaged, marketed and priced like beer, cider actually has more in common with wine. That is the point the people at Aeble, Scotland's first cider bottle shop, and renowned Fife restaurant The Kinneuchar Inn are making at a five-course, cider-paired supper club on Sunday. 'We want to demonstrate the quality and breadth of cider by serving products that boast a real range of characteristics,' Jaye Hutchison, co-owner of the Anstruther-based bottle shop, told me. To do this, staff will serve four ciders and one perry (a pear cider). Jaye described one cider, Naughton Cider Company's Overture, as 'one of the best drinks, globally, that I've ever tried'. Excitingly, this cider and one other that'll be served are both produced in Fife. Serving local food and drink is nothing new to James Ferguson and Alethea Palmer, who run The Kinneuchar Inn, in Kilconquhar. 'The produce here, in this area, is second to none,' James said as he handed me a fresh sugar snap pea. After eating it, I can only agree with him. Cooking at The Kinneuchar Inn requires flexibility; the menu changes depending on what produce is at its best. 'We find the good produce and then write the menu after that,' James noted. For the upcoming cider-paired supper club, James has put together a menu that highlights the local area's natural bounty. For example, Tamworth pork, sourced from just up the road, will be paired with local stuffed and baked onions. Strawberries from the East Neuk will be served alongside palmiers and milk ice cream. Just about everything served on the night will have been produced in-house. From the bread served during the meal to the three types of charcuterie in the first course. Freshness is at the heart of what Kinneuchar do. So, when I visited the inn 10 days before the supper club, the pig had yet to arrive. The onions that will accompany it had six days until they were pulled from the ground. Instead of the supper club dishes, I tried a couple of items from that day's menu to get an understanding of the type of food that The Kinneuchar Inn serves. I enjoyed a dish of cockles, verdina beans and fresh peas that was incredibly flavourful thanks to the addition of some housemade sobrasada. The other dish I tried was a testament to the inn's produce-led approach. Thick slices of wonderfully ripe apricots were served over a generous pile of mozzarella and topped with hazelnuts and basil. Given the quality of these two dishes, I have no doubt that the food served at the supper club will impress the guests just as much as the cider will. The Kinneuchar Inn runs various supper clubs during the quieter months of the year. It teams up with other businesses or invites distinguished chefs to cook at the restaurant for a night. Given that summer is just around the corner, the supper club with Aeble will be the last of these events until autumn. However, the team have plenty to keep them busy until then. Aside from expanding their general opening hours during the summer months, the team at Kinneuchar will also sell their famous fried chicken buns, which started as a lockdown-era takeaway offering, every Monday during July and August. They expect to sell over 200 of these fried chicken buns every day that they are on offer. The popularity of the buns is just one indicator of how well-respected The Kinneuchar Inn is, and its success has acted as a catalyst in the East Neuk. Now, the area is home to several other exceptional food and drink businesses, including Aeble. Supporting these local business was one of the reasons why James and Alethea teamed up with Aeble for Sunday's ticketed event. As James told me towards the end of our interview, 'Right now, we should all be supporting small, local, independent businesses because if we don't, we'll lose them.'
