What was the star of the show at Brown & Blacks in Scone?

There’s no better place to spend a chilly winter evening than a cosy pub or restaurant. And even more so when there’s football on the telly.

So after a bracing walk with my four-legged pal Mijo, me and a friend decided to warm up with some food at Brown & Blacks in Scone.

The bar area of Brown & Blacks in Scone, Perthshire.

When you go in the front door at Brown & Blacks you walk into a bright and cosy bar area. During our visit the TVs had both rugby and football showing so it was a good atmosphere, if a bit noisy. If you carried on through you’d find a restaurant area at the back of the building, which was very busy.

It’s also accessible for people with disabilities and mobility problems – and there’s parking spaces around the back which is handy as on-street parking nearby can be limited.

Dogs are allowed in the bar and outside areas only and there were two others in when we arrived so it’s very pet-friendly and we sat there so my dog could also enjoy our trip out.

Once Mijo figured out he could jump onto the seat I was in he was happy because not only could he see what was going on around him he could pinch a nibble or two!

The food at Brown & Blacks

The menu at Brown & Blacks has a little bit of everything so it’s bound to suits most tastes and requirements. It also has the added bonus that many of the main course options are available as half portions.

For my starter I chose the goats cheese and sundried tomato bon bons (£8.50). It came with a portion of chilli jam to dip into and a dressed side salad.

They were large and nice and crunchy on the outside. Biting in you get a ball of creamy goats cheese and little nuggets of sundried tomatoes inside (slightly unevenly distributed between the three balls admittedly), which is a fantastic flavour combination. A dunk in the chilli jam gave a bit of punch of flavours that rounded the dish out nicely.

My friend went for the teriyaki pulled pork soft taco with smashed chilli avocado and pickled red onions (£9.95).

The tacos were stuffed full of juicy, tasty pulled pork and slathered with the smashed chilli avocado and pickled red onions. It was a great mix of flavours, with the creamy avocado cut deftly by the onions and the strong earthy pork flavours bringing it all together. As it was probably a shoulder of pork there was a bit of fat but fat equals flavour so it was all good. It could have used a touch more teriyaki flavour but was a good dish nonetheless.

For mains, my friend went for the black & blue burger (£17.50).

The beefy burger was topped with blue cheese and an onion chutney, which he enjoyed but felt a touch more of the chutney would help cut through the creamy richness of the cheese.

The meat itself was tasty and well cooked, a touch on the dry side for his taste but that’s more of a personal preference. The chips served with the burger were good – golden on the outside and fluffy inside.

Food with a conscience at Brown & Blacks

But the undoubted star of our meal was my main course, the fish platter (£19.95). Served on a wooden fish it was a mountain of seafood goodness.

The fish elements in the platter were a prawn cocktail, smoked mackerel, garlic king prawns, a smoked haddock fishcake and haddock goujons. It also came with salad, a ramekin of tartare sauce and some sourdough bread.

It was an absolute delight and I devoured it happily. The fish was incredibly fresh and well-prepared and although it was a lot of food, it was light and I didn’t feel laden down afterwards.

One notable point about Brown & Blacks is that they have removed all salmon from their menu, including the fish platter, due to the ethical concerns around farmed fish. But while you may think that would mean the dish was missing something, it was absolutely not the case at all. Plus it’s amazing that a restaurant will forego an extremely popular fish product on the grounds of welfare and I truly admire that.

We also ordered a couple of sides with our meal – homemade onion rings (£4.50) which were well cooked and seasoned and the macaroni cheese (£6.50) which was outstanding in both its flavour and its size, considering it’s a side dish.

The verdict

Brown & Blacks is a popular place to dine for a reason – there’s a lot of thought in the flavour combinations of each dish and the range of dishes on the menu. Yes there were some slight imbalances and wobbles in execution but they were small and easily overlooked.

It’s also a very friendly and welcoming place and going once just isn’t enough!