Crathie Restaurant Guide

Limited feedback this year on this grand hotel near Balmoral (opened by HRH Charles III back in 2019) – one of the first properties in Hauser + Wirth’s ArtFarm portfolio. Such reports as we have say it can be “outstanding”, and The Scotsman’s Rosalind Erskine branded it “bonkers but beautiful” in an August 2023 review. It’s by no means a cheap experience, though, with the simple, if high-quality main dishes typically in the £35-£40 price range… and that’s before the chips (only £5, but mash or veg are closer to a tenner).

“Newly opened but with great potential” – this April 2023 newcomer threw open its doors just before our annual diners’ poll concluded and elicited just this single comment. But it had already been visited by HM The King and Queen thanks to its sustainability credentials (it supports the Ocean Recovery Project). On the former site of the Rothesay Rooms, it’s now part of ArtFarm’s expanding portfolio – “an impressive and immersive place that you won’t forget in a hurry, and the same goes for the food”, according to The Scotsman’s Rosalind Erskine in her May 2023 review, where she enjoyed “fresh seafood in stylish surroundings” (which becomes more understandable when you find out that “at the helm of this new venture is Jasmine and Marcus Sherry, who worked at the Fife Arms in Braemar” up the road). Rosalind’s choices were “light, fresh, local and unfussy”.