With the bells of 2019 still chiming loud and clear in our ears, new years resolutions, so far, still intact, online declarations of people doing Dry January and Veganuary have been filling up my social media timelines. Just two days into the new year and Dude and I were all dressed up for an evening at the Scottish Steakhouse, MacDonald Inchyra Hotel and Spa near Falkirk. We had been invited to do a review of new menu and so jumped at the chance of putting off any new year health kick.
Arrival at the Scottish Steakhouse
We arrived early and as we pulled into the car park the warm glow of the hotel and restaurant lights invited us in on a freezing winter night. With a separate entrance the Scottish Steakhouse feels like any other restaurant and not attached to a hotel.
We headed straight over to the bar to be greeted by a pleasant young man who asked us how we were and what would we like to drink. Dude’s first choice of ale was off, as they had run out with no similar alternative and he ended up with a pint of lager. Not usually his drink of choice but there were no bottles of local ales available. Not the end of the world.
The nice open space of the lounge area had enough seating options for anyone who had just come in for a G&T or waiting to be seating for their meal – sofas, barstools or standard table and chairs. As soon as we walked in, we had felt relaxed and that can only be a good thing.
The Menu
We were shown to our table and handed a rather large menu. I can get quite overwhelmed if there is too much on a menu but everything was in bite sized chunks and just a handful of options for each course, including side dishes, rubs and sauces for steaks.
Choosing a starter was easy. Second item on the menu: Stornoway black pudding scotch egg with Miller’s larder piccalilli and mustard cress. Sold! We normally try and each choose something different from a menu but neither of us were budging from the scotch egg. When it arrived in front of us, it looked beautiful, it smelt amazing and the yolk was still a wee bit runny. Result. It was divine. On one hand we wanted to just tip our heads back and devour it, and on the other we wanted to savour every single morsel and then lick the plate. It really was that good.
I was umm’ing and ahh’ing between herb crusted lamb rack and the sirloin steak. Sirloin for me and rib eye for Dude, both with hand cut chips. Then came more choices – which rub – BBQ/chilli and garlic/Togarashi/Himalayan salt and olive oil? And which sauce – garlic butter/red wine/peppercorn/béarnaise? Decisions, decisions.
Oh and a cheeky side of onion rings.
Our food arrived and I’m pleased to report it came on an actual plate! Not a wooden board in sight, brilliant. The meat was cooked perfectly and my garlic butter was enough to keep the vampires away for a week (potent – I loved it). The steaks were cooked perfectly and the big fat chunky chips were really tasty but I couldn’t help but wish there was a parmesan and truffle option for them too.
Ladies, you’ll know all about the dessert stomach we have, well, I was certainly grateful for the extra space on this occasion (and the six mile walk we had taken earlier in the day to burn calories we were yet to consume!). Whilst I decided to have a lemon meringue tartlet with raspberry sorbet the Dude opted for a dram of whisky from the large selection of single malts.
Service
From the moment we walked through the door to the moment we left, everyone was welcoming, helpful, pleasant and knew the menu and it’s flavour combinations. Charlotte was a delightful lady who helped with wine choices and made food recommendations for us during our evening.
Listening around the room as staff dealt with other customers it seemed that everyone was treated in the same timely and polite manner.
We didn’t have to wait too long for each course to arrive and the table was cleared promptly too.
Scottish Steakhouse, MacDonald Inchyra Hotel
All in all we had a really lovely night. It was a great way to kick off the new year and would make a delightful treat for a special occasion, family get together or even just date night with your special person.
Easy to get to from many of the local visitor attractions like the Kelpies, Linlithgow Palace and Callendar House you can certainly make a day or a weekend of your visit. We drove down from Perth and it was easy to get to in around forty minutes.
Our Scottish Steakhouse experience will be one we hope to repeat in the future, maybe with an over night stay so we can explore the area during the day, or just relax and enjoy a spa treatment or two, followed by dinner and drinks.
Just one note: don’t spend all night wishing you could stroke the wall like some weirdo because you think it is real cow hide (like I did). It’s not, it’s been very cleverly painted and even up close looks like the real deal (I’m also, obviously glad it’s not real).
We would like to thank the Scottish Steakhouse at MacDonald Inchyra Hotel and Spa for inviting us on a complimentary basis to review the restaurant. All food choices and wall stroking fetish’s are entirely my own.
