What can we tell you about Andrew Fairlies? No, seriously, this meal was way back in mid 2008, alas before the days of taking useful notes, so there is very little that we can tell you, but we’ll do our best.

Andrew Fairlie is the very prestigious 2 Michelin starred restaurant in the equally prestigious Gleneagles hotel, located (surprise surprise) at the globally renowned Gleneagles golf course. Even better for us, the hotel is located only a few very scenic miles from my parent’s house, meaning the obscenely expensive meal could be offset by free accommodation and an excellent taxi service (thanks Mum!).

Preferring to dine early, we were the first guests in the restaurant on the quiet Monday night (weekend bookings were tricky to come by) and the superb waiting staff made us feel very comfortable and tucked us away in a quiet booth. The dining room was truly beautiful, certainly the nicest I have encountered – dark, plush, beautifully lit and adorned with expensive looking artwork, including a Francis Bacon-esque portrait of Chef Fairlie himself.

The food and wine were excellent throughout – never truly exciting, but always excellently executed and perfectly presented. We now realise the importance of noting these things down… so apologies that this review is next to useless – but at least we can share our impression of this impressive place through the photographs.

The price was something of a new high for us – I’m sure there are a lot of wealthy golfers walking through the door every weekend – and for the cash a little more drama in the meal would have been expected. For over £200 the fact that without any notes we are left with no specific food related memories is testament to this.

However, the atmosphere was perfect, the service excellent and the quality high throughout – the second best place to eat in the Ochil hills (after my Mum’s home cooking, of course).

4 golf balls out of 5

Restaurant Andrew Fairlie
The Gleneagles Hotel,
Auchterarder,
PH3 1NF,
UK