Undiscovered Scotland

 

Diners at the Old Course Hotel are faced with an unusually wide selection of appealing dining options. Most appealing of all is the Road Hole Fine Dining Restaurant on the 4th floor of the hotel. This magnificent room, within which you also find the kitchen, serves dinners from Tuesday to Saturday. The restaurant has been awarded 3 Rosettes by the AA, and this reflects the exceptionally high quality of the food on offer. You can read our hotel review for the Old Course Hotel here.

Diners can choose from an à la carte menu, an outstanding eight-course tasting menu, or an accompanying vegetarian tasting menu. The quality of the food is matched by the superb service, which is driven by the pace of the individual diners: and what you are about to eat is explained to you as the dishes arrive. Equally impressive is the knowledge and infectious enthusiasm of Sommelier, Richard Coulson, whose 35 page wine list is a triumphant tour of the best that the world's vineyards have to offer.

A number of other dining options are available to guests and visitors. The 4th floor Road Hole Bar, open each evening, offers a snack menu which includes a range of salads, sandwiches and more substantial options. On the ground floor, the Sands Grill, which has been awarded 1 AA Rosette in its own right, opens daily from lunchtime onwards. It specialises in seafood and steaks, and has an extensive children's menu for younger guests.

Meanwhile, the Jigger Bar serves food every day, and offers a menu that would be a cause for pride in many restaurants. Additionally, light lunches are available in the spa; afternoon tea is served in the conservatory; and the Duke's Bar and Grill, in the clubhouse of the hotel's own golf course near St Andrews, serves food throughout the day.

We were served breakfast in the Road Hole Restaurant. Breakfast turned out to be as good as every other aspect of the experience at the Old Course had led us to hope it would be. The first course is self served from a buffet: and you know you are in for something rather special the moment you survey the huge range of fresh fruits, fruit juices, cereals, yoghurts, breads, croissants, pastries, cheeses and meats on display: all extremely fresh and beautifully presented, even late in a long breakfast service. Once you have ordered your morning beverage from the list of five coffees, eight teas and hot chocolate, you can also order your main course. Here Loch Fyne kippers vie for your attention with local smoked haddock, Eggs Benedict, porridge, and a range of omelettes.

We went for excellent pancakes with maple syrup, and for what turned out to be one of the very best Scottish breakfasts we have eaten, complete with superb ingredients, perfectly cooked and with portion sizes clearly designed to ensure the morning golfer is easily going to be sustained until at least lunch time. You can read our hotel review for the Old Course Hotel here.