Daisy Tasker Dundee

A hotel restaurant worth staying in for

We first visited Daisy Tasker for lunch in 2019 and are happy to say that Daisy is still feeding the residents of Hotel Indigo and Dundee. But who is Daisy Tasker and what is on her menu?

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Who is Daisy Tasker?

Daisy Tasker was an employee at the Jute Mill (which is what the Hotel Indigo building originally was) who liked to organise social events. For tea dances, lunches and the sort, Daisy was your girl (she was a mere 14 years old when she worked there!), so the hotel restaurant is named in Daisy’s honour.

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What we had to drink

The drinks menu features a number of Dundee-themed cocktails so we tried one each. A Piece of Cake (£9.10) on the left, which is Dundee Cake Gin, fresh lime, sugar, tonic and on the right, a Marmalade Cosmo (£9) which includes Dundee Marmalade Gin, Cointreau, and fresh lime. The Piece of Cake actually did have a cakey taste about it. Both were sweet and fruity.

Starters

Basil mousse, heritage tomatoes, mozzarella & black olive (£7.25). Now, this is a dish I will certainly be trying to replicate at home, or I’ll be up in Dundee weekly to get a fix! Smooth and strong basil mousse with fleshy tomatoes. Delicious. We would recommend also ordering bread to go with it.

Asparagus, broad beans, feta, hens egg & spiced granola (£8). Green and earthy, tasting healthy, asparagus cooked well and not overdone, with a bit of crunch and spice from the granola. It tasted really good but the egg was just a little undercooked.

Main Courses

Lamb loin & confit belly, smoked potato puree, tender stem & sauce reform (£26). Lovely pink chunks of lamb, full of flavour, subtlety smoked mashed tatties and broccoli. An autumnal main, as lamb is very much in season. With the exception of steak, this was the dearest main available, all the others are more modestly priced between £14.50 – £17.50.

Chicken breast, leg & egg, celeriac & spring onion (£17). We ordered this one mainly for the breast, leg and egg description. Thankfully we did. Charred spring onion on top of moist chicken breast and chicken leg meat with (we think) tarragon and umami flavoured eggs.

Desserts

Pineapple carpaccio, coconut, rum, chillies & lime sorbet (£6). Not a usual dessert for me, but this sounded too good to not order. I didn’t eat the chillies, as I’m useless with them, but you could still feel the spicy tingle through the coconut crumbs and pineapple. Special shout out to the lime sorbet for being blooming zingy.

Eton mess, strawberry, meringue, black pepper & basil (£6.25)
What’s not to love with orange (marmalade?) sorbet, baby meringue, strawberry coulis, black pepper and baby basil leaves which works strangely well alongside strawberry.

Verdict

Forget any preconceptions that hotel food is boring and tasteless. Daisy Tasker within Hotel Indigo Dundee (read about our stay by clicking the link) is so impressive that it’s worth not venturing out of the hotel for. Stay in, relax and enjoy dishes from the varied menu with imaginative touches and Dundee-inspired drinks. Staff were friendly and helpful throughout. Prices were cheaper and also offered better value for money than two other hotel restaurants that we dined in recently.

If you do decide to visit, check out their take on afternoon tea – ‘Dundee Tea’ is £16.50 each with tea or £19.50 with a Dundee gin cocktail. These also come with Cullen skink, a selection of pieces including corned beef, Butcher’s pie, scone with Dundee marmalade and chocolate and Dundee marmalade slice.