In a bid to avoid the “restaurant rut”, my other half and I agreed to find somewhere we’d never been before for our latest trip – we decided on The Woodside Hotel in Doune.
And although Doune is just a few miles away from where we live, neither of us had been there for years, and we’d never been to The Woodside Hotel.
So we hopped in the car and went to see the latest goings on in the small town.
What is The Woodside Hotel like?
Despite the fact that the hotel is in an old, thick-walled building, it doesn’t suffer from a lack of natural light.
Whoever designed the interiors made sure to utilise light and bright colours and the many windows to ensure you can see out to a sunny Doune day.
As with many places, The Woodside has gone for the traditional/modern combo and manages to pull it off without it looking forced.
They are dog friendly – I noticed staff taking bowls of water to thirsty pooches – although there was no dogs in our part of the restaurant, so they may be put in their own section.
The tables are widely spaced and there is disabled access throughout.
How is the food at The Woodside Hotel, Doune?
For starters we chose the Isle of Skye king scallops (£13.85) and the haggis bon bons (£8.95).
The scallops came with prosciutto (a classic combo) on top of a butternut squash puree and toasted pumpkin seeds.
The scallops and prosciutto were perfectly cooked (and there was plenty of the salty prosciutto to balance out the sweet scallops).
I honestly couldn’t taste the puree, and even had to check the menu to remind myself what it was meant to be. And if they ditched the pumpkin seeds, they wouldn’t be missed.
The haggis bon bons were lovely and moist on the inside, nice and crispy on the outside.
They came with a turnip and honey puree, pepper sauce and an abundance of parsnip crisps.
Again, haggis and pepper sauce is a good pairing, but the pepper sauce was so spicy that it was difficult to taste any other flavours.
And they needed to reduce the amount of parsnip in half – it felt like they were just dumped on top of the bon bons and it made it hard to actually see the dish.
Main dish was a ‘letdown’ at The Woodside Hotel, Doune
Because it was Sunday, my other half chose the roast beef (£21) for his main course and I have to say, he picked the winner of the day.
It was a dijon mustard and garlic marinated ribeye, served with roast potatoes, maple and thyme glazed carrots, buttered seasonal greens, Arran cheddar cauliflower cheese, homemade Yorkshire pudding and a red wine gravy. (Yes all of that on one plate!)
The beef was perfectly cooked and came with plenty of the gravy, which was thick and flavourful and spread to the rest of the plate, but that only made things better.
Keeping the cauliflower cheese in a skillet was a clever move to stop the sauces mingling and it was just the right amount of cheesy.
The rest of the elements were cooked well and it all worked together.
In comparison, my main course of pan-roasted chicken breast (£16.85) was a letdown.
Firstly, the size of the portion was too small.
Either they are fine dining and therefore can get away with smaller portions, or, they are country hotel pub classics, where you expect a hearty meal.
And you need to be careful when you are putting out dishes like the roast alongside smaller eats because perception can be a problem.
However, the chicken and the accompanying dauphinoise potatoes were extremely tasty.
The dish came with a jug of pepper sauce (the same stuff as the haggis bon bons). I just put it to the side after one bite as it was overwhelmingly peppery.
I’d have the chicken again, just more of it please!
Did desserts make up for a disappointing main?
To finish our meal, we ordered the Belgian chocolate mousse (£8.25) and the lemon tart (£8). I’ll start with the tart – if you are ordering this, you have to enjoy sour flavours (thankfully I do).
Despite the fact that it had crushed meringue on top and a buttery pastry, the lemon tart and raspberry sorbet dominate.
I loved it, but slightly more meringue would make it more palatable to the less-sour inclined diner.
The chocolate mousse, however, was at the other end of the scale.
Dense and rich it came with popcorn and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
There was also allegedly salted caramel but neither other half or I could taste it.
It was very sweet. So in a bid to balance things out, I took the ice cream for the lemon tart and my other half had some sorbet with his mousse.
The mousse was well made and tasty, it just needed that sharpness to cut the flavour a bit.
The verdict
To sum up the food at the Woodside in one word, I’d have to go with uneven.
There are elements and dishes they do absolutely fantastically. Those scallops were perfectly cooked and the roast beef was to die for.
But then there are others where you are left scratching your head because of how unbalanced they are.
I’d definitely say it’s worth a visit though. The hotel is beautiful and when they get the food right, it’s really right.
Information:
Address: Stirling Road, Doune FK16 6AB
Tel: 01786 643399
Website: thewoodsidedoune.co.uk
Price: £88.10 (two starters, two mains, two desserts, a side dish and soft drinks)
Scores:
Food: 3.5/5
Service: 4/5
Surroundings: 4.5/5
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