Golf Hotel Whiskey

Golf Hotel Whiskey: for pilots and aviation enthusiasts

Dundee (EGPN)

Airport information

Nearest town: Dundee, Scotland

Longest runway: 1400m, Asphalt

Opening hours: Mon-Fri 0700-2100, Sat 0900-1700, Sun 0900-2100. Hours can be extended at weekends by prior arrangement.

Fuel: 110LL, Jet A1

Phone: 01382 662200

Website: Airport website

AIP plates and airport diagram

Airport map

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Facilities

  • Taxis: Dundee Taxi Cab Co (01382 203 020), Handy Taxis (0800 303 060), Tay Taxis (01382 450 450)
  • Car Hire: companies deliver and collect at the airport by prior arrangement. Avis (www.avis.co.uk, 0844 581 0147), Hertz (www.hertz.co.uk), Celtic Legend (www.celticlegend.co.uk/car/index.htm).
  • Refreshments, free parking, disabled facilities.

On the airport or within walking distance

  • Coming soon

Pubs

  • The Fisherman’s Tavern, Broughty Ferry, 01382 775 941. Award-winning traditional Scottish pub with excellent menu and extensive range of malt whiskies.
  • The Boars Rock, 168 Arbroath Road, 01382 453888.

Restaurants

  • Taychreggan Hotel Restaurant, West Ferry, 01382 778 626. Award-winning garden and sun terrace, extensive wine list, emphasis on local produce.
  • Social, South Tay Street, 01382 202 070. Stylish destination with good menu and excellent cocktails.
  • The Italian, Commercial Street, 01382 206 444. Dundee Restaurant of the Year 2004-2005, booking essential.

Hotels

  • Apex City Quay Hotel and Spa, 1 West Victoria Dock Road (08456 083 456, www.apexhotels.co.uk). Stylish 4-star inner city hotel with top-class spa and conference facilities.
  • The Shaftesbury Hotel, 1 Hyndford Street (01382 669 216, www.shaftesburyhotel.co.uk). Town house hotel in quiet residential area.

Golf courses

  • St Andrews (01334 466 666, www.standrewsgolf.org). Internationally renowned as the home of golf.
  • Gleneagles (0800 389 3737, www.gleneagles.com). PGA Centenary Course created by Jack Nicklaus, venue for the 40th Ryder Cup matches in 2014, plus three other courses.
  • Carnoustie Golf Club (www.carnoustiegolfclub.com). One of the ten oldest courses in the world.

Activities

  • Glamis Castle (01307 840 393, www.glamis-castle.co.uk). Childhood home of the Queen Mother, birthplace of Princess Margaret and setting of Shakespeare’s Macbeth.
  • Discovery Point and RRS Discovery (01382 201245, www.rrsdiscovery.com). Museum following the trip of Captain Scott and Ernest Shackleton aboard the Royal Research Ship Discovery in 1901.
  • RSPB Loch of Kinnordy Nature Reserve (01738 630783, www.rspb.org.uk). Ducks, gulls, grebes and ospreys in a watery world of lochans, viewed from bird-watching hides.
  • The Famous Grouse Experience (01764 656565, www.thefamousgrouse.com). Guided tours, restaurant and retail outlet at world famous whiskey distillery in Crieff, outside Angus.

Useful information

Rick Stein’s Seafood Restaurant

Welcome to Padstein

The view looks like it has come straight from a tourist brochure. Driving down the steep hill, the estuary shines in the sunlight and Padstow reveals itself as a working Cornish fishing village. Stepping out of the taxi onto the quay the salt smell of the sea, the cries of the gulls and the postcard-perfect vista form the backdrop for one of Britain’s best-known restaurants. Welcome to Rick Stein’s Seafood Restaurant.

Rick Stein came to Padstow 28 years ago, when he bought a rundown nightclub and turned it into waterside bistro. Initially the cooking used only the catch of the day from local fishermen but it soon began to benefit from Stein’s exotic travels for the BBC. He started to create new dishes that embodied cooking techniques and spices from around the world. Nowadays, he also casts a wider net for ingredients, using produce from many parts of the British Isles such as oysters from Colchester, wild smoked salmon from County Cork, and langoustine from Scotland.

As his fame has grown, thanks in part to the success of his restaurants and in part because of his TV appearances, so his Padstow empire has grown. Some locals joke that the place should now be called Padstein. There are three restaurants, a patisserie, a deli, accommodation in four separate buildings and even a fish and chip shop but the Seafood Restaurant is the flagship and the best.

The white-painted dining room is light and airy. Like white bone china it provides the perfect backdrop for the varied colours, textures and flavours on Stein’s bold menu.

Is there another restaurant in Britain that would serve monkfish vindaloo? We doubt it. Luckily, it’s not fiery like a curry house vindaloo and the spot-on spicing makes it work. Stuart’s favourite. Likewise, the stir-fried mussels with black beans, garlic, ginger, coriander and spring onions expose a different inspiration but the same finesse. His signature dish is grilled scallops with hazelnut and coriander butter. Just the thing to reanimate a palate jaded by too much airport coffee and too many in-flight mints.

Alternatively, there’s a five-course tasting menu. This is an aquatic adventure currently involving grilled scallops, Loch Duart gravadlax, fish and shellfish soup, fillet of hake with sauce verte and Spanish butter beans, followed by passion fruit pavlova.

In this temple of seafood, carnivorous blasphemers can choose a steak and there are usually veggie starters on the menu that can be supersized for a main course. The restaurant advises habitual vegetarians to phone ahead; presumably so that the chef can take a mogadon and prepare something suitable.

The wine list is small but well chosen to fit most tastes. A three-course meal for two people and a bottle of house wine will set you back about £100.

The Seafood Restaurant does exactly what it says on the tin. Good fish, well-cooked, with enough imagination and flavour to set it apart from your neighbourhood joint (and justify the price). All circumstance and no pomp, it’s worth the air miles.

Still wondering “Where can I get the best king crab near me?” Check out ilovecrabs.com.

La Rive

When it’s spring again…

la_rive2The best restaurants are like an orchestra.  When all the sections are working together harmoniously, something transcendent happens.  La Rive with its two Michelin stars, in Amsterdam, is just such a place.

Take, for example, the coffee service.  In most restaurants this is a chance for the staff to kick back and relax.  Not here.  The maitre d’ who looked like a conductor in a perfectly-fitting white tie and tails brought our bill and asked, innocently, if we would like another coffee.  One nod from us and another waiter instantly appeared with a second tray of coffees, as if carrying a Stradivarius.  "I had these ready for you, sir, just in case you wanted them". 

la_rive1The light, wood panelled dining room overlooks the Amstel River, with ducks diving in and out of the water a few feet from our table, the whole scene making a relaxed and elegant frame for a great dining experience. 

But service and setting are nothing if the food is poor.  The amuse bouche consisted of four different delicacies.  Our favourite: the tiny ‘pizza’ served on a crisp, very thin biscuit that had been sautéed in butter, topped with sun-dried tomato, capers and herbs.

la_rive3To start, Stuart had a cream of Belle de Fontenay potato soup with a guinea fowl oyster, truffle and poultry jus. Superb.  Mathew’s palette of pureed vegetables with a beautifully sculpted, tiny goat cheese club sandwich with tomato and quail’s egg was equally sublime.

For the main course, we both chose brill poached on the bone and served with green asparagus, Belon oysters, dried tomato and champagne beurre blanc. The fish was cooked to perfection, flaky and moist, the flavour blending with the sauce.

The restaurant was quiet.  Two or three other tables were occupied.  We heard appreciative mutterings in French, Spanish, English and Dutch.  The entire staff seemed unfazed by the polyglot dining room and switched languages seamlessly as they glided from table to table.

It’s tempting to think that the Dutch speak such fluent English as a special favour to us.  They don’t.  They’re just really good at languages.  Matthew’s father, a Dutchman, spoke five languages to interpreter level.  Matthew, thanks to the finest English education, can read Latin inscriptions and, in an emergency, can find a French aunt’s pen.

la_rive4The flight to Amsterdam Schiphol was an exciting low-level run across the channel and the Dunkirk Beaches and northwards across Belgium and Holland at 1500 feet to keep out of controlled airspace.  For light aircraft pilots, flying into a major international airport like Schiphol is a rare challenge.  However, the visual approach is a hair-raising lunge across hangers at about 500 feet followed by a semi-aerobatic turn onto the runway at the very last moment.  (“A perfect threshold arrival,” said the laconic tower controller as Matthew pulled it off, but he didn’t see me sweating). Just what you need to work up an appetite.  It’s just as well that they don’t hit you with the £140+ landing fee until you get back from lunch.

On the flight back to reality, or Denham Aerodrome as it is also known, Stuart told us a story.  After a meal at one of his favourite haunts, Dieter the headwaiter trumped his parting jest with a line fit for a monument: “Doctor, you have just had a glimpse of perfection in an imperfect world.”  So it was, and is, at La Rive.

Contact information

Professor Tulpplein 1
1018 GX

Amsterdam
Netherlands
Tel: +31 20 622 60 60
Fax: +31 20 622 58 08

E-mail: amstel@interconti.com
Restaurant website

Important information

Breakfast: Monday to Sunday

Lunch: Weekdays only

Dinner: Monday to Saturday

Meal for two: £100

Michelin Rating: ** (at time of writing)

Nearest Airport

Amsterdam Schiphol (10m)

Bovey Castle

A weekend in the country

Bovey CastleIn the middle of Dartmoor National Park in Devon, Bovey Castle tries to recreate the aristocratic Victorian shooting lodge it once was.

Guests are met by footman in knee breeches and waistcoats.  There’s a billiard room and a cigar divan.  Freddy Cartwright, the hotel’s ‘factor’, a sort of Butlin’s red coat with Sandhurst training and a Barbour jacket, can arrange all kinds of country entertainment: fishing, falconry, croquet, archery, golf and shooting.  There’s fun for the children too in the Playstation-equipped kid’s barn and neighbouring private cinema.

Bovey Castle

They’re quite used to people arriving at Exeter airport in private aircraft and meet them discreetly in the hotel’s Range Rovers but you don’t need to stay in the £1500 top suite to enjoy the facilities: rooms start at £185.

Contact information

Bovey Castle
North Bovey
Dartmoor National Park
Devon
TQ13 8RE
England
Telephone: +44 (0)1647 445016
Fax: +44 (0)1647 445020
www.boveycastle.com

Important information

Meal for two: £60

Nearest Airports

  • Exeter
  • Plymouth

Nearby Towns

  • Exeter
  • Torquay
  • Plymouth

Chewton Glen

chewton1

Only eight miles from Bournemouth Airport and surrounded by 900,000 acres of New Forest, Chewton Glen was high on our hit list of Michelin-starred restaurants.

The trip from Denham to Bournemouth took just forty minutes in our plane, a Cirrus SR-22 four-seater. The morning weather was gin-clear – “captain’s weather” – and we had a fine view of the coast as we landed.

chewton2A fifteen minute cab ride later and we arrived at The Chewton Glen Hotel and things started to go downhill. We had arrived at the hotel before the restaurant was due to open. A quizzical look and “the lounge is through there,” was all the greeting we got so we carried our coats into the spacious and well-lit room and tried to order some tea.

chewton3Our irritation was allayed by the view of manicured grounds bathed in hazy winter sunshine. It is always a relief to swap London life for a moment of Luxe, Calme, et Volupté, even if the “relaxing yuan zhi regenerating body cocoon and massage” offered by the hotel spa didn’t appeal. We prefer calories to callisthenics.

There was an extensive à la carte menu and a three-course prix fixe for reasonable £22.50. Our hundred mile journey demanded something special and both of us chose a cheese soufflé to start. When the soufflés arrived, we caught one another’s eye and grinned as if to say “the journey was worthwhile.” The golden brown top had risen several inches over the rim of the ramekin, and the smell brought to mind Oscar Wilde’s dictum: “I can resist anything, except temptation.”

The main course was less rewarding. Stuart’s Dover sole and Matthew’s grilled sea bass arrived after a noticeable delay. Tidy and properly cooked they were both tasty but the side plate of vegetables looked like something from a school meal. Limp, unappetising and untouched by either of us. On the other hand, the bread was very good, especially one that mixed sweet raisins with sour rosemary and a drop of olive oil.

Matthew was designated pilot for the return journey so Stuart could indulge in a glass of Messieurs Guigal’s light and flowery Condrieu. Matthew thought the bottled mineral water was a fine vintage with a delicate bouquet and a hint of spring meadows.

Turning down a pudding, we were invited to take our coffee in the lounge. It arrived promptly with a choice of truffles. After that we felt like we had been abandoned. In the end Matthew had to order a cab from reception and Stuart went back to the restaurant, credit card in hand to search for the bill. The result was a lengthy delay and a stressful high speed flight back to Denham so that we would land before nightfall.

When reviewing top restaurants, another Wilde quotation seems appropriate: “I have very simple tastes; I am always satisfied with the very best.” Overall, Chewton Glen fell short of this demanding ideal. While the food was good and the soufflé excellent, the overall experience was marred by second-rate service before and after the meal. These lapses are forgivable in the high street but not in a £50-a-head restaurant.

Contact information

Address: New Milton, Hampshire, BH25 6QS

Tel. (01425) 275341
Fax (01425) 272310
Reservations Direct Line (01425) 282212

US Toll Free Tel. 1 800 344 5087
US Toll Free Fax : 1 800 398 4534
Germany Toll Free Tel. 0800 1 810890

Email: reservations@chewtonglen.com

Website: www.chewtonglen.com

Important information

Opening hours: lunch 12.30-1.45, dinner 7-late
Meal for two: £100
Michelin Rating: *

Nearest Airport

Bournemouth (15m)

Nearby Towns

  • Bournemouth
  • Southampton
  • Winchester

Cumbernauld (EGPG)

Airport information

Nearest town: Glasgow, North Lanarkshire, Scotland

Longest runway: 820m, Asphalt

Opening times: Winter 0900-1700, Summer 0900-2000

Fuel: 110LL, Jet A1

Phone: 01236 457777

AIP plates and airport diagram

Airport map

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Facilities

  • Taxis: Kwik Cars (01236 720 208), Cita Taxis Ltd (01236 721 222), Central Cab Co (01236 722 772)
  • Flying schools: Scotia Helicopters

On the airport or within walking distance

  • Coming soon

Pubs

  • Stables Lounge Bar, East Waterhead Cottage, 01236 737000.
  • Craigmarloch Lodge, Balloch, 01236 850531.
  • The Dovecote, South Muirhead Road, 01236 725339. Good menu, child friendly.

Restaurants

  • Old Masters Restaurant, Westerwood Hotel, 1 St Andrew’s Drive, 01236 457171. Serving modern British and Scottish cuisine.

Hotels

  • Castlecary House Hotel (01324 840 233, www.castlecaryhotel.com). Set in a small village conveniently located for most major attractions.
  • White House Apartments (01413 399 375, www.whitehouse-apartments.com). Attractive serviced apartments in the centre of Glasgow, from studios to two beds, with complimentary newspapers and broadband included.

Golf courses

  • Dullatur Golf Club, Cumbernauld (01236 723230, www.dullaturgolf.com). Includes restaurant, bowling section and gym.
  • Palacerigg Golf Club, Cumbernauld (01236 734969, www.palacerigggolfclub.co.uk).
  • Kilsyth Lennox, Tak-Ma-Doon Road, Kilsyth (01236 824115, www.kilsythlennox.com). Course redesign carried out by the renowned American architect Rocky Roquemore.

Activities

Useful information