As part of my sister-in-laws birthday celebration, we had the good fortune to dine at the Royal Hotel in Comrie and what an enjoyable time we had. And the food wasn’t bad either.
We arrived at the Royal and had pre-dinner drinks in the Lounge. I had my usual pint of Best, where as the others shared a bottle of Maillart Premier Champagne. The ladies really enjoyed it, which is a good recommendation as they can sometimes be a bit fussy? Still on the drink, I have heard that the Royal has over 170 Single Malt Whiskies. So, if you’re into that sort of thing the Royal could offer you a right good evening to yourself.
We sunk into the comfortable settees and spent ages contemplating the menu. Decision made, we ordered and settled for a chinwag in what is a very pleasant surrounding. After a short while, our attentive waiter informed us our table was ready and we moved through to the Brassiere. The Brassiere is a slightly less formal room that the Royals Dining Room, but a wee bit more formal that the Lounge. The Brassiere offers an impressive view of the Hotel grounds and hills beyond. It offered us a perfect setting for our meal.
I had ordered french onion soup to start and sea bass as my mains. My soup arrived and I was really impressed by its strong aroma. The soup offered a rich texture and a mouth watering taste. It was beautiful. I would state that it probably the best french onion soup that I have ever had. I polished it off in pronto style and began to eye my brother-in-laws starter. He had ordered a plate of pasta seafood and what a plateful it was. I thought he’ll never manage to eat all that but I had forgotten that he is the guy that eats till he sleeps!
The sea bass arrived. It looked and smelled great. Normally, I do not rush to order fish, however on this occasion I was pleased that I had. The sea bass was presented on a bed of marinated ratatouille, with a side of pesto spaghetti. I was pure magic and I thought that I had gone to the big dining room in the sky. It was one of those dishes that you never wanted to stop eating. To be honest, I can’t remember what the other’s had to eat. Not that their meals were not memorable, but I was so focussed on my own enjoyment I barely lifted my head to look. When I’m served great food I am sometimes not the best conversationalist!
For desert, we ordered two portions of cheese and biscuits to share between us, together with coffee. When the plates arrived we had a choice of six cheeses on each. There was more than enough for the five of us. It was a great way to finish off what had been a fantastic meal. The company wasn’t bad either. I had better say that as I'll explain in the next paragraph.
“ Buddha Belly how much did it cost?” I hear you cry. Well, I have to admit here that I really do not know as I did not pay for it. My overly generous brother-in-law picked up the tab. However, at a guess, I would say that for the french onion soup and the sea bass you would get some change out of £15.00. And, I have to say that at that price it a snip as its top notch grub and I’ll be back. Pity, as I might have pay next time!
Contact Details:
The Royal Hotel
Melville Square
Comrie
Perthshire
PH6 2DN
Telephone: 01764 679200
2 comments:
As the aforementioned brother-in-law I would like to add congratulations to the BuddhaBelly for his excellent blog and incite full culinary comments. I would have to agree that the Royal was a lovely dinning experience. The food was excellent the staff attentive and the company very pleasant. In addition to dinning at the Royal we had the pleasure of staying the hotel for two nights. The Hotels is friendly and pleasant, we stayed in a top floor room that was cosy without being small. The only complaint would be that there were three broken tiles on the entry to the bathroom we had to cover with a tile. But that said the room was very clean and fitted with all the expected amenities.
Anyway as I said great job BuddhaBelly, keep on eating!
We visited the Royal Hotel on a busy Friday night and were incredibly disappointed by the experience. In summary, my husband had the sea bass which was the half the size of his palm. And by the way he’s not got the largest hands in the world. It had been overcooked and as a result it was very dry. Not nice!
I had the hake on paella. It was a very small portion and tiddler like. I would have thrown it back! The paella looked as though it had been bought from Iceland (the shop and not the country). With only one prawn, which looked very lonely, it was obviously not the Spanish version!
Well, the service. What can I say? It was a case of neglect. In fact, we nearly called the social work department, as it was a culinary protection issue. We'll not be back, even if they would have us.
Oh, Buddha Belly your blogs the best.
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