The Glenturret Lalique Restaurant

Excellent cooking

Conceived as an alliance between the French Lalique crystal house and Scotland’s oldest working whisky distillery, this no-expense-spared venture has proved to be a marriage made in heaven (well Crieff, anyway). Magnificent Champs-Elysées chandeliers glitter in the seven-table, glass-sided jewel box of a dining room, where views of the rugged landscape surrounding Glenturret add to the frisson of dining here. Glaswegian head chef Mark Donald has cooked in star-spangled kitchens across the globe, from Noma to Gleneagles, and he brings serious creativity, technical know-how and a feel for native ingredients to his gently paced, perfectly balanced and intricately crafted tasting menu. There’s wit as well as wisdom on display here, from a gussied-up ‘tattie scone’ fit for a laird with its super-luxe garnish of marbled wagyu, truffle and caviar (spooned at table from a Lalique bowl) to a sour fruit pre-dessert shot entitled ‘kumquat penicillin’. Early on, you might be treated to the saline intensity of a raw, sliced cherrystone clam overlaid with a condensed gooseberry and dulse vinaigrette (eaten like an oyster but with twice the flavour punch) or a crumbly seaweed tart with Jerusalem artichoke custard and kombu flakes. Bread means glossy malted barley sourdough presented like a gift with peat-smoked beurre noisette and local honey, while the love affair with seafood continues with stellar concoctions such as monkfish partnered by burnished yellow pike roe and morsels of Infundibulicybe geotropa (the ‘trooping funnel’ mushroom). Scottish game also has its moment (juniper-smoked roe deer, say) and there’s Perthshire Blackface lamb too (perhaps BBQ with peas, pine nuts, red pepper sauce and wild leek pearls). Next comes a palate-cleansing, sweet-savoury crossover (slivers of underripe Leadketty strawberry with a creamy celery granita, say), while dessert could be a reinvented autumnal Paris-Brest. Each course has an appropriate wine pairing from a stellar list (sake to start, sweet stickies to finish), and proceedings conclude with a handcrafted ‘sweetie box’ whose secret compartments reveal everything from Sauternes jellies to malt whisky chocolates. At lunchtime, you can partake of a snack menu in the glitzy bar (think oysters with kipper vinaigrette or Lanarkshire beef tartare). It’s also worth exploring the venue’s encyclopaedic whisky selection, which features seven curated flights including a six-shot ‘voyage around Scotland’.

The Glenturret Lalique is a restaurant like no other. Housed within The Glenturret whiskey distillery, which has been in operation since 1763, it’s billed as the first in-distillery fine dining concept; an intriguing proposition, and one that the restaurant effortlessly delivers on. Much of that is down to chef Mark Donald, who has led the Crieff restaurant since its launch in the summer of 2021. Donald previously held a star at Number One at The Balmoral in Edinburgh, and was awarded one at The Glenturret Lalique within seven months of opening. The restaurant has since gone on to bag a second Michelin star. Using the finest, hyper-local produce available, Donald’s tasting menu takes you on a journey through the Scottish landscape. The cooking is often playful in concept but always graceful and elegant. The wine list is wide-ranging including everything from English sparking to low-contact wines from boutique wineries. By contrast, and as part of the Lalique family, the cellar holds a variety of rare mature vintages from the private wine selection and estates of Lalique chairman Silvio Denz, whose enviable wine collection is accessed exclusively at The Glenturret Restaurant. The restaurant was launched by French crystal house Lalique, which has a history of supporting top-end fine dining establishments. Its restaurant portfolio also includes the two Michelin-starred Villa René Lalique in Alsace; and one Michelin-starred Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey in the region of Bordeaux. The Glenturret Lalique may be a younger restaurant, but in a short amount of time it’s carved out an equally as impressive legacy for itself.

5 Rosette Award for Culinary Excellence