Monachyle Mhor

You’ll need your SatNav to track down this gloriously remote, pink-washed farmhouse retreat in the rugged heart of the Trossachs National Park, but it’s well worth the effort – especially when you can gaze out towards Loch Voel and Loch Doine. Chef/patron Tom Lewis follows the ‘farm to table’ ethos to the letter, with his own smallholding and livestock contributing to his sterling efforts in the kitchen. Home production is a given here, and you can taste the results on a daily changing fixed-price dinner menu full of fresh-tasting, clear-favoured seasonal dishes – from mountain hare with shallot purée, kohlrabi, pancetta and black truffle to dark chocolate and espresso pavé with cherry sorbet and Mhor crème fraîche. In between, there might be Blairgowrie beef, home-reared Tamworth pork and Perthshire Blackface lamb (perhaps with celeriac purée, green-top carrots and crispy anchovy), while Scottish fish could be represented by Scrabster pollack with cockles, globe artichokes, spinach and pink peppercorns. Prices are kinder at lunchtime, but it’s worth investing some spare cash on the highly personal wine list with its fascinating blend of pedigree vintages and quirky self-styled ‘oddballs’.