Food Review: Moness Resort, Aberfeldy, Perthshire

Fine dining in the heart of Perthshire

Mr Foodie and I had a night away at Moness Resort to sample their food and get out of the city for some well-deserved fresh air.

Click link to jump to section

Resort Overview

Moness Resort sits on the outskirts of Aberfeldy which is very easy to get to from the A9 and a lovely drive through some beautiful scenery as well. At only two hours from Glasgow or Edinburgh, it’s within reach for a day visit.

Coming into the resort, you will see some cottages, townhouses and the main hotel itself – a good mix of styles to keep everyone happy. The resort has everything you need really, swimming pool, jacuzzi, steam room, spa, two restaurants, kids’ area as well as golf and the resort is set within 35 acres of ground and is close to the Birks of Aberfeldy (made famous by Rabbie Burns), so lots of walking can be done here!

Here’s a preview of our review:

Flemmyng Restaurant

The Flemmyng Restaurant is entered through a subdued but relaxing lounge and opens up into a large room filled with modern furniture but with a hint of the traditional.

We settled down quickly and checked out the menu. Now how does Char-grilled picked peach salad with mixed beans, Roquefort cheese, cauliflower and shallot piccalilli, walnuts and a garlic brioche crouton sound? Well apart from a mouthful to say, it sounded pretty good – so one was ordered! We also picked the pan-seared scallops, cauliflower purée, serrano ham crisp and curried cauliflower chutney (did someone buy too much cauliflower? 😉 )

moness resort starters — Starters Menu, Flemmyng Restaurant, Moness Resort, Aberfeldy

We ordered some wine, the Solandia Grillo, Terre Siciliane, the cheapest white on the menu and surprisingly drinkable for the price. An Italian tropical fruit bowl sprinkled with almonds (£3.50 175ml, £5 250ml, bottle £15) and had a chat whilst waiting for our food, which arrived quickly.

Food

It’s not often we pick a salad on the menu but this sounded interesting. There wasn’t a lot of cheese but it was very strong, lots of vinegar and cheesy tang. Blue cheese and pickled fruit works. Crisp green beans, a couple of croutons – not very garlicky and nothing like a brioche, they were crispy. Would’ve suited a more acidic sauvignon blanc wine rather than the one we had.

moness_resort_pan seared scallops — pan seared Scallops, cauliflower puree, serrano ham crisp and curried cauliflower chutney

The Scallops were totally overpowered by curry piccalilli, which was a tasty piccalilli but too much. We had noticed that the scallops smelled very fishy from others and these were too. Boo.

Onto the main course, a mix of dishes here which all sounded very nice. Such as corn-fed chicken with rosemary fondant potato in a damson and soft herb jus or Highland venison loin with dauphinoise potatoes in a chocolate and juniper jus. They all sounded delicious!

moness resort main courses menu — Main course menu, Flemmyng Restaurant, Moness Resort, Aberfeldy

moness_resort_sea bream — Pan friend line caught sea bream with parmesan croquette, ratatouille and basil oil.

Crisp skin with moist fish flesh, beautiful. The cheesy croquette was fluffy and cheesy but not too much and The basil oil was an inspired addition working well with the fish and the ratatouille.

moness resort salmon — Scottish salmon fillet with wild mushrooms, smoked chorizo, potato gnocchi and lemon emulsion.

Another perfectly cooked fish with crispy skin and a moist interior. The chorizo smokey-ness went well with the potato gnocchi and the salmon. The lemon emulsion seemed a bit too much, what with the chorizo having a strong character. Excellently cooked crisp vegetables as well.

moness resort dessert menu — Dessert Menu, Flemmyng Restaurant, Moness Resort, Aberfeldy

There’s always room for pudding! Mr Foodie loved the sound of nutmeg ice-cream alongside his pear and blackberry crumble, so took first dibs at dessert with that.

moness_resort_pear and blackberry crumble — Pear and Blackberry Crumble with Nutmeg ice cream, Flemmyng Restaurant, Moness Resort, Aberfeldy

Not too much Nutmeg here, which is good as it can be an overpowering taste if too much is added. Alongside the crumble it made us both feel very festive, some good winter taste there. The crumble was crumbly and not stodgy with a good buttery taste. The fruit was a bit more compote like that crumble like, but was very tasty indeed. A clean bowl from Mr Foodie!

moness_resort_eton mess — Eton Mess with Chantilly cream, meringues, winter berry compote and berry textures.

The Eton Mess looked amazing when it came out, the meringues were stacked like skeleton bones – one for halloween there! Smooth and creamy Chantilly cream and tart berries in this Eton Mess. Delicious.

We enjoyed our meal at The Flemmyng Restaurant at Moness Resort, with a couple of tweaks this restaurant would be great. We found the lighting to be a bit bright if you wanted a romantic dinner and the waiters seemed reluctant to sell any more wine after our initial order of a glass each. The fish especially was cooked very well.

Music: Michael Bublé, East 17, The Carpenters, Shania Twain, Ronan Keating, Amazing Grace played on bagpipes.