Chez Roux – gluten free at Cromlix – 5 stars!
You may not yet have heard of Chez Roux at Cromlix hotel, as it had only been open for six weeks when we visited, but it is one to put on your list! Cromlix is owned by Andy Murray, located just out of Andy’s hometown of Dunblane, near Stirling (around 39 miles north of Edinburgh).
Cromlix hotel was a privately owned home before it was converted into a hotel in the 1980’s. It has been beautifully renovated and reopened by Andy Murray in April 2014 and it feels more like a private club than a hotel.
We stayed one night last week at the end of a driving trip around Scotland as we wanted to end it on a high – and boy was it a high!
Our room was absolutely lovely, but the pièce de résistance however, was our meal at Chez Roux restaurant, which is “overseen by the legendary French chef Albert Roux and run by award-winning executive head chef Darin Campbell” (Cromlix website).
I was asked when booking if there were any dietary requirements, so that gave my some confidence my gluten free needs would be taken care of. The restaurant itself is very modern in a glass conservatory, with views into the gardens, including the croquet lawn and tennis courts.
Gluten free is not marked on the menu, but I just told the waiter my preferred dishes after looking at the menu and they said they would communicate the need for gluten free to the chef.
My starter was asparagus salad with smoked aubergine puree.
The flavours were amazing and it was beautifully presented. I ate every last bit (even the petal!) and tried not to make too much noise scraping every skerrick of the puree from the slate plate, adding some to my gluten free toast.
I honestly would have been happy if my dinner had ended there!
My main did not disappoint either, which was perfectly cooked veal with potato dauphinoise and vegetables, in a light, but tasty jus.
I didn’t need much for dessert, so opted for the sorbet as a nice refreshing end to the meal. I forgot to reiterate my gluten free requirement (it was a different waiter) and it arrived on a brandy snap which we soon established was not gluten free and I was promptly given a new dessert with no fuss.
We had several staff attend to us during our meal and all of them were very friendly and helpful.
My husband and I both agreed it was the best meal of our trip (and we had been to some very nice places, as well as having gluten free fish & chips, which is hard to top for a coeliac!) and I would highly recommend it. Unfortunately we did not sample breakfast the next morning, as we had to leave early to get back to London.
This is a 5 star luxury hotel and the prices reflect this – it is lovely for a special occasion and there is even a small chapel where you could have a wedding.
Note: you do not need to be a guest at the hotel to eat at Chez Roux.
Kinbuck, Near Dunblane, Perthshire, Scotland FK15 9JT
Tel: 01786 822 125
www.cromlix.com
Further reviews of our Scotland trip will be coming soon and the full restaurant search I did before leaving for Scotland will be added to the Restaurant Lists page.
