The Gleneagles Hotel is resplendent in its location beneath the beautiful Ochil Hills, an iconic country estate which has been a luxury destination for nearly a century. Now with the completion of the first phase of redevelopment, The Century Bar, one of Scotland’s most historic bars has been given a major makeover and undergone a complete redesign to transform it into an elegant and contemporary space. It has retained its heritage and Scottish identity by using a brighter colour palette and the window spaces have been opened up to maximise the views. The traditional fabrics, textiles and accessories used create an atmosphere of warmth and understated elegance.
The Century Bar’s new look is accompanied by a new food and drinks menu which reflects country pursuits – such as hunting, shooting and fishing. Using the finest locally-sourced ingredients the menu is new and innovative and captures the attention immediately.
As we chat through the new menu it becomes apparent there is more than one dish we would like to sample so we decide on four dishes to share: the Scottish smoked salmon selection, crab cakes, lamb, and the smoked duck salad. Simply described on the menu, each dish arrives displayed beautifully on different styles of plate. The salmon selection is a choice of three kinds of salmon of varying strengths, the lightest one infused with gin and juniper, the more traditional with demerara sugar and rock salt and the third one intense with whisky barrel oak shavings. Each are delightful to taste in their own way yet so different. The crab cakes are rich with the flavour of the crab and just enough for two of us. The smoked duck salad arrives on a bed of beetroot, celeriac and is topped with apple shavings, truly spectacular to taste. And finally the lamb, which has a richness of flavour, styled like a ‘Chinese parcel’ and subtly enhanced by the Moroccan spices and roasted aubergine, a real champion in my book.
Gleneagles has always been one of my favourite places to go to relax, unwind and feel totally spoilt and now with the refurbishment and the change of menus it’s a definite go-to destination whether to stay, play, eat or to try one of the new fabulous drinks. Enjoy!
Gleneagles, Auchterarder PH3 1NF
Tel: 0800 389 3737