New Menu at The Dalmore Inn
Whenever we’re invited to review The Dalmore Inn we always jump at the chance — we rate it as one of the very best informal dining experiences in Perthshire, at least out of the ones we’ve tried. So when we were told there was a new menu for us to try, we headed straight along.
As usual, I ask for a Dalmore Gin to start my meal—I really enjoy this drink, which has been distilled especially for the Inn by Persie Distillery. It’s a refreshing mix of botanical flavours, embracing pine, mint and coriander. If, like me, you really like it, you can buy a bottle of it here to take home with you.
We now feel perfectly at home in the cheery and welcoming restaurant, which has a modern feel that somehow combines being both airy and cosy. The service is always friendly and professional yet relaxed.
The new menu options for starters all sound really appetising and we have some trouble choosing between them, but in the end I go for the smoked haddock and Arran cheese croquettes and Nathan has the whipped brie with filo pastry and beetroot. My croquettes turn out to be soft and light, with the smoked fish and cheese in perfect balance. The tarragon and dill pesto adds freshness and finesse. However, I have to say that as good as it is, it’s slightly overshadowed by the splendour that is Nathan’s whipped brie dish. He kindly let my try a bit and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since! It’s honestly worth a visit to The Dalmore Inn all by itself, in my opinion anyway.
It’s time for the main courses and I’m interested to see if they can live up the standards set by the starters, but of course they can. Nathan has his favourite fish and chips, to which he gives his very experienced seal of approval, and I pick something off of the specials board — sea trout with risotto and king prawns. The prawns are cooked just perfectly, so that they practically burst in your mouth with a gentle pop, and I’m blown away by the crispy skin on top of my trout, wondering how they managed to get it so without overcooking the fish beneath, which they have not done.
The specials board here, by the way, is always worth looking at! It often has some really interesting options and is updated daily. You can check the website on the day you visit to find out what’s on it if you like to know a bit in advance.
Dessert time, and we opt to share something as we are both quite full but don’t want to miss out on trying one of the new puds. We hesitate between profiteroles with poached pear and tonka bean pannacotta with rhubarb and ginger bread but finally go for that latter and I was so pleased we did because I couldn’t imagine any dessert being more delicious. If you’ve not had a tonka bean before I would describe as a flavour somewhere between vanilla and nutmeg, and the rhubarb and ginger flavours were perfect with it. The gingerbread was unexpectedly thin and crispy, which was a wonderful textural contrast to the smooth pannacotta too.
As well as its main menu, the Dalmore has a light lunch menu of two courses for £19.95, a steak menu of 2 courses for £28.95 or 3 courses £33.95, and a kids menu. If you haven’t visited yet it’s definitely time to do so, or if you’ve not been for a while, head over this summer to try some new dishes.
Nathan and Abi received complimentary lunch for the purpose of this review
