Review: The Inn at Loch Tummel

Richard Bath savours a Sunday lunch as it’s meant to be at picturesque coaching inn The Inn At Loch Tummel.

One of the most memorable episodes of Ben Fogle’s television series New Lives In the Country was when he met PR executive Jade Calliva and his wife Alice, who worked in finance.

The premise of the show was about city-based wage slaves who wanted more and had decided to make the huge transition from the rat race to a quieter, more rural way of life. In this episode the presenter met the young couple from Croydon as they sold their tiny flat and bought a lochside inn in Highland Perthshire which had lain empty for two years.

The documentary followed their trials and tribulations – and there were plenty of both – as they initially got the Inn At Loch Tummel, near the Queens View, open for business once more, after which they underwent a crash course in the realities of running a rural hospitality business.

That was seven years ago, and since then Jade and Alice have become successful hoteliers, steadily building up their business while also starting a family.

With stunning views out across Loch Tummel, their accommodation is the backbone of what they have to offer. Although this old coaching inn provides the only public bar for at least ten miles, that aspect is a smaller part of their offering than their food, of which Sunday lunch is their centrepiece.

Each weekend, the place becomes a hubbub of activity as people from the surrounding communities are joined by visitors from further afield and those staying in the Inn’s six bedrooms.

As you might expect from somewhere which luxuriates in the great outdoors, Sunday lunch was a suitably hearty affair in which our ravenous appetites met the three courses head on.

We started off with a poached pear and rocket salad spiced up with Blue Murder cheese from Rory Stone’s excellent Highland Fine Cheese in Tain and a maple and balsamic glaze, and a bowl of Nona’s pasta pomodoro to ensure we loaded some carbs.

But, honestly, whether you choose to go for a starter or a pudding or neither, Sunday lunch is always about the roast, and this was something of an epic.

We had the striploin of beef and the lemon and garlic breast of chicken, which were perfectly cooked and came in decent servings, but it was the accompaniments which really made the dish.

Both came with roast potatoes, sautéed green beans, roast cauliflower cheese, roasted carrots and parsnips, and mashed buttery neeps – which were served in half a dozen bowls which soon littered the table – but it was the teapot of gravy and the boxing glove-sized and beautifully light Yorkshire pudding which really stole the show.

As they arrived, they looked so substantial that we wondered if we’d ever finish them, but twenty minutes later we were cooing with pleasure as we wiped our plates clean.

Fortunately there was just about time and space for two surprisingly good puddings, one a chocolate ganache with roasted hazelnut, the other a lemon panna cotta with raspberry jelly and pistachios. But when we look back on the meal, it was the roast, and especially the mountainous, Schiehallion-sized Yorkshires, which lingered longest in the mind.

With some excellent local beers to choose from – I particularly liked the excellent rye ale – and a good wine list with bottles starting from £22, not to mention a roaring fire in the corner of the room, this came close to being the perfect Sunday lunch.

The Inn on Loch Tummel, Strathtummel, Perthshire PH16 5RP. 01882 634317. www.theinnatlochtummel.com. Open for lunch and dinner. Sunday lunch £40 for two courses, £50 for three courses. 

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