Angus Larder

Larder

DE TO ANGUS’ FOOD & DRINK

GUIDES

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Your

adventure starts here...

Looking for a local restaurant to sample the taste of Angus or searching to discover the past at one of our historic attractions?

Perhaps you are a walker, keen to explore the Angus Glens or are seeking a relaxing round of golf.

Visit www.angusahead.com today to take advantage of all the fantastic features of this amazing county and have your own Angus Adventure!

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Introduction The Angus Larder Part of The Larder series of food and drink publications thelarder.net Editor Donald Reid Editorial assistance Hannah Ewan, Gemma Elwin Harris, Jay Thundercliffe Writing & research Emily Arbuthnott, Zoe Bing, John Cooke, Catharina Day, Hannah Ewan, Susannah Pate, David Pollock Layout Joss Bibby Design & Production Simon Armin Map Angus Council Cover Eassie asparagus; photography by Charlotte Runcie. With thanks to Earthy and perthe Edinburgh Larder.

Publishers Robin Hodge, Simon Dessain Larder Project Director Peter Brown ©2012 The List Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of The List Ltd.

Published by The List Ltd with the support of SFQC – a foundation partner of The Larder 14 High Street Edinburgh EH1 1TE Tel: 0131 550 3050 list.co.uk Extensive efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy of the information in this publication, however the publishers can accept no responsibility for any errors it may contain.

T

he ancient Pictish culture of Angus is evidence of a longstanding relationship between the land and those who lived from it. Diets may have changed over generations, but the land and sea of Angus has rarely failed to provide. The region has a rich maritime heritage manifest in one of Scotland’s world-class delicacies, the Arbroath smokie. Fields that provide vegetables, fruit and cereals have also been the breeding ground of the most famous of all beef cattle, the Aberdeen Angus. Along with neighbouring Perthshire, there are few better places to grow soft fruit. Here is a guide to all this produce and much more. It tells you about the food grown, made, landed and created in Angus, and just as importantly where to find it, from seasonal farm stalls to classy restaurants. The information in the Angus Larder is independently selected to reflect the contemporary food culture of Angus and to help you find and enjoy great local food. Here you will find stories and people, history and innovation, everyday staples and more indulgent treats, culinary insight and plenty of inspiration to eating well in and from Angus.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This guide has been developed by The List working with Angus Council. The editor would like to thank Stephanie Clark, Ewan Pate and Anne Reid for their local wisdom.

The Angus Larder is supported by Angus Council and the European Regional Development Fund under the Lowlands and Uplands Scotland Programme 2007–2013 with the aim of raising the profile of Angus’ food and drink product.

FEEDBACK To correct or update any information contained in the Angus Larder, or to provide comments or feedback, contact eat@list.co.uk, or write to the Editor, Angus Larder, The List, 14 High Street, Edinburgh EH1 1TE The Angus Larder is available as a page-turn version at: angusahead.com/anguslarder The Angus Larder 3

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Contents

list.co.uk

What’s in the Angus Larder?

There’s a lot packed into these 48 pages. Here are a few of the highlights

Chef’s Choices

Some of the best chefs in Angus select their favourite local produce. See panels from page 31.

Tip-Top

Smokie-dokey

Rick Stein calls them ‘a world-class delicacy’, but is it true that succulent smokies don’t really hail from Arbroath after all?

Find out more on page 6.

A small farm near Glamis gets more anxious calls from Scotland’s top chefs than most. See why on page 16.

Where the Wild Things Are

The Angus coast is home to one of Scotland’s few remaining salmon netters. See page 14.

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Contents

Where to Buy

Our listings of the best food shops, butchers, fishmongers and farm shops around Angus. From page 24.

Where to Eat

The restaurants, bistros, cafés and takeaways where you’ll find local food on the menu. From page 34.

Meet the Meat

Beef is taken seriously in Angus. After all, it’s the home of the Aberdeen Angus breed. See page 8.

From Angus

A comprehensive round-up of the food grown, farmed, made and landed in Angus. See page 22.

Perfect Picnics

A selection of our recommended picnic spots are on page 45.

Introduction

3

Features

6

Map

24

Where to Buy

26

Where to Eat

34

Farmers’ Markets & Food Festivals

46

Index

47 The Angus Larder 5

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Name section Arbroath Smokies

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Where there’s smoke With its name now protected by law, the Arbroath smokie is one of the enduring emblems of food in Angus. Catharina Day goes in search of the story behind the world-class delicacy

N

owadays in the Fit o’ the Toon, the area of land given to attract fishermen to Arbroath in the 1800s, there are still many artisanal fishmongers making smokies in their backyards to their own subtly different family methods. The haddock that is preserved in this way is the most delicious and famous delicacy to come from this area.

Surnames among the fisherfolk such as Spink, Cargill, Swankie and Smith, recur here again and again. Many families came from the fishing settlement of Auchmithie, three miles northeast along the coast, where the small community claims Scandinavian roots that stretch back to the Vikings who came to the area in the eleventh century.

These settlers may have brought with them their traditional hot-smoked method of preserving haddock.

Instead of splitting, salting and drying the fish – the usual practical way of preserving what was not sold or eaten fresh – the Auchmithie fisherwomen removed only the head and guts. They then salted and cooked the haddock in the smoke of a fire of hardwood enclosed within a pit or wooden cask sunk into the ground. They

carefully monitored the smoke, regulating it with layers of damp hessian cloth to produce the unmistakeable hardened bronze skin encasing juicy white flesh that pulls easily off the bone. Once smoked, the fish would keep for up to a week and was much superior in taste to simple dried fish.

Arbroath was keen to stimulate its fishing industry pursuing herring, white fish and shellfish. So, in 1705, Robert and James Cargill and their families were encouraged to work from Arbroath by the town’s magistrates. However, the laird of Auchmithie, the Earl of Northesk, wasn’t having this – especially as the fishermen paid to use his beach – and he took out a legal case in Edinburgh against both the magistrates and the Cargills. The court agreed that the Auchmithie fishermen were the Earl’s serfs and were not free to move away from the village. They had to move back.

A harbour was built in Auchmithie and by the end of the 1800s the population of Auchmithie village was 400, with 12 white fish boats, six large herring boats and 20 small lobster and crab boats. The reputation of the smokie, or lucken as it was also called, grew with the

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Arbroath Name ofSmokies section

area’s improved rail links to both Forfar and Dundee, which became a ready market as it grew and prospered.

In 1826 only three fishing boats operated from Arbroath, but gradually families from Auchmithie moved to the town, attracted by the land and improved harbour. By 1881, there were 92 boats.

The building of the Bell Rock lighthouse was a terrific boost to Arbroath’s trade and shipping, and work was plentiful.

The industry continued until the early 1980s when the fish moved further north, making it impractical to catch them and return to Arbroath. Now most of the haddock is landed in Peterhead or Shetland – although one Arbroath boat still operates out of Aberdeen.

More recently, the uniqueness of the smokie has been safeguarded with its

registration as a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) under the EU’s scheme to protect food names. Nothing can be called an Arbroath smokie unless it is a haddock, smoked in the traditional way and made within an 8km radius of Arbroath. Iain Spink’s business is an example of how the smokie is being marketed now. He has taken the smoking process out on the road, showing the public how it is done at food fairs and farmers’ markets using the traditional half whisky barrel, hardwood logs and hessian sacks. The fish are salted, tied by their tails and hung in pairs over the smoke sticks, which in turn hang over the smouldering fire. Then they are covered for about 45 minutes until cooked.

Vacuum packing keeps the smokie fresh for up to two weeks, making it easier to post around the world – a flourishing outlet for most of the local smokers.

The fishmongers and producers remaining in the Fit o’ the Toon include Alex Spink, Derek Spink, M&M Spink, M&M Smith, E&O Fish and the two Scott brothers. As well as haddock, hake and trout are also given the Arbroath treatment, and a variety of smokie pâtés are on offer, while William Spink of M&M Spink is famed for his hot-smoked salmon, which he gets from Shetland.

■ For more on the smokie producers mentioned see Where to Buy section from page 26.

> A BRIEF GUIDE TO SMOKED FISH Hot smoking, the basic method used to prepare Arbroath smokies, differs from cold smoking only in the temperature of the heat source used.

For both processes, the fish is first cured in either a brine preparation, which can include flavourings such as rum, molasses or spices, or just dry salt. The fish – most commonly salmon or trout – is then smoked at below 30°C for cold smoking, which produces classic smoked salmon, or between 70 and 80°C for hot smoking.

Another smoked fish with East-coast roots, Finnan haddie, is whole haddock, like the smokie. But it is split and opened up, dry salted overnight, then cold smoked over peat for 8 to 9 hours.

Finnan haddies differ from simple smoked haddock in being served on the bone and without the certainties a traditional method gives; and no artificial dyes are used. Kippers, meanwhile, are smoked herring, split, brined, then cold smoked for between 4 and 24 hours, and are common across the British Isles rather than being a particularly Scottish tradition.

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Angus Beef

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Going native

Widely regarded as producing some of the finest beef in the world, the Aberdeen Angus breed was first developed by an Angus farmer in the 19th century. Susannah Pate takes up the tale

A

berdeen Angus is one of the best known breeds of cattle in the world, mostly thanks to its appearance on restaurant menus, butchers’ windows and supermarket shelves everywhere. As the name has become an international mark of quality and superior flavour, so a piece of the agricultural heritage of north-east Scotland is transported around the world.

Angus cattle breeder Hugh Watson developed a polled (hornless), black cattle in the early 19th century and found considerable success selling prime cuts to Smithfield market in London. The

majority of his stock was sold to an Aberdeenshire farmer in the 1860s, and the Aberdeen-Angus Cattle Society was officially established in 1879.

Prized for its ability to survive in harsh conditions and turn forage into superb eating meat without the need for supplementary grain, the original Aberdeen-Angus line has been mixed with other bloodlines over the years as farmers have experimented with new ideas. Commonly, beef carrying the Aberdeen-Angus name will be 25 or 50 per cent crossed with a faster growing or higher yielding breed. As a result, very

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Angus Beef

few pure Angus cattle were left – until recently. One Angus farmer has made it his personal mission to restore the native Angus line to its former glory. In 1995, Geordie Soutar started sourcing all the remaining pure-line breeds, of which there were just eight. He found them all within a few miles of Dunlouise, his farm near Forfar.

‘I remembered the Angus cattle of my youth,’ recalls Soutar. ‘They were small animals, smaller than the Aberdeen Angus we see today, with really good meat. They were on the verge of extinction, and I knew the calibre of these cattle so I made it my mission to perpetuate the bloodlines. I wanted to build a herd with no imported bloodlines and create the type of cattle which made Angus famous around the world.’

What started out as a personal passion has become a worldwide success story, with Soutar selling pure-breed semen and embryos across the world, as part of a major breeding programme at a ranch in America, and also to Europe and Australia. There are now over 150 breeding females, so from this year native Angus breeds will be taken off the rare breeds list. ‘This is really wonderful, because I think these cattle are the bee’s knees,’ enthuses Soutar. ‘And it is especially relevant today when cereals to feed animals are increasingly expensive and scarce. Angus cattle don’t need grain – pigs do, chickens do, but these cattle can be grass finished. Why use 12 kilos of grain, which could be used for human consumption, for an animal live weight gain of two kilos?’

Although Soutar’s main business is selling semen and embryos, he also sells meat to local butchers including James Ewart in Monifieth and MacDonalds Brothers of Pitlochry. Soutar explains: ‘The meat has wonderful marbling which makes it very succulent. Often people think fat is a bad thing, but this is an unsaturated fat and is integral to the meat’s fabulous flavour. We keep one for our freezer every year and my wife will throw a steak into the pan – no oil, no nothing – and it is divine. One thing we

> A BUTCHER CALLED BEL

can stand our ground on emphatically is that the quality is second to none.’

In support of his claim, the herd has won the respect of celebrity chefs too.

He appeared in the last series of the BBC’s Great British Food Revival, and has been asked by Gordon Ramsay to provide two cows for his Beef Cartel cooking events in London, showcasing beef beyond steak.

Soutar is trying to take it all in his stride: ‘Creating this herd has given me experiences I would never have had otherwise – talking to celebrity chefs and staying as the guest of a Formula 1 racing driver with a passion for our pure line beef. I mean, I’m just a little farmer frae Forfar.’

■ To learn more about the breed or stay in the Soutars’ farm cottages, see dunlouiseangus.com. To buy beef from the cattle, visit ewartsbutchers. co.uk or macdonald-bros.co.uk

The equality of the sexes being what it is these days in many professions, a female butcher shouldn’t be a surprise. But it is unusual. Bel Forbes opened her traditional butcher’s shop in the village of Edzell in 2007, having previously run a catering business.

She has since earned a reputation as a supplier of the best meat in the area. As well as pies and sausages, Bel sells locally sourced wild game in season; privately bought fully matured local beef; local lambs and family-produced pork. Specialities include home-made haggis wrapped in chicken and chicken liver pâté, and Bel has picked up awards through the Scottish Federations of Meat Traders Association for a number of products: her Mediterranean lamb steaks were voted the best lamb product in Scotland in the 2011 awards. Bel’s Butchers is also a member of the Scotch Butcher’s Club.

■ See entry on p.26.

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Name section Forfar Bridies

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A sublime kind of pie The iconic Forfar bridie may have disputed origins, but its reputation is fiercely guarded by locals, as Zoe Bing finds out

> BAKING A BRIDIE According to F. Marian McNeill’s The Scots Kitchen, published in 1929, one of the oldest recipes for a bridie comes from Jolly’s bakery in the 19th century. ‘Take a pound of best steak,’ it says.

‘Beat it with the paste roller, then cut it into narrow strips, and again cut these into one-inch lengths and season with salt and pepper. Divide into three portions.

Mince finely three ounces of suet. Make stiff dough with flour, water and a seasoning of salt and pepper. Roll out thin into three ovals.

Cover half of each oval with meat; sprinkle with the suet and a little minced onion if desired.

Wet the edges, fold over, and crimp with the finger and thumb. Nip a small hole in top of each.

Bake for about half an hour in a quick oven and they will come out golden brown dappled beauties, fit for a king’s supper.’

■ The Scots Kitchen (Mercat Press 2006)

K

irrimuir-born JM Barrie, author of Peter Pan, knew about bridies, giving them a place in his novel Sentimental Tommy, when Tommy’s homesick mother recalls it as a ‘sublime kind of pie’ that is offered to visitors at grander houses on Hogmanay.

Made to the traditional method, bridies have a high meat content, which makes them more expensive than many other styles of pie. In the heart of Aberdeen Angus country, people reckon lots of meat is essential, and although ‘bridie’ has become a generic term across Scotland for a crescent-shaped puff pastry pie with a sausage-type filling, a Forfarian would be very sniffy about such cheap imitations.

The bridie’s origin is shrouded in mystery, and there’s a friendly rivalry between the two bridie bakeries in Forfar over who tells the real story.

Michael Saddler, fourth generation owner of Saddler’s Bakery, says tradition has it that Maggie Bridie of Glamis gave her name to the pie in the 1820s, selling it at the three big farming markets in the area. Saddler believes the bridie was a good way for farm labourers to carry their meat to the fields, using the pastry to protect it from their grubby hands. He claims the first written reference to the

Forfar bridie was in a publication known as the ‘Aberdeen Shaver’ in 1833, where it was announced that an Aberdeen baker was about to introduce this ‘famed sort of pie’ to Edinburgh.

It was Karen Murray’s great-greatgrandfather who founded James McLaren and Son in 1891 after learning his trade with Jolly the Baker. She says that meat was not commonly eaten by most people back then, the staple diet being porridge and brose three times a day, seven days a week. This meant that the bridie was for special occasions only, such as weddings – hence the name and the lucky horseshoe shape.

An application for EU-sponsored Protected Geographical status is in the pipeline to defend the bridie’s reputation from poor imitations. After all, there is clearly a great deal of pride in what is probably the town’s most famous export. It’s still served at weddings and christenings to bring good fortune, but of course is eaten far more frequently than that. They’re consumed in large quantities on the terraces and in the boardroom of Forfar Athletic, too.

But there is one vital bit of information you still need to absorb: bridies with one hole on top have onions, the ones with two don’t. There, now you know.

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Barley & Berries

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Tunnel vision

Whisky, luxury fruit juice and supermarket strawberries might not, on the face of it, have much in common. Yet, as Hannah Ewan learns, they’re all the focus of research and innovation being put into practice in Angus’ fields

T

he Scotch whisky industry needs over half a million tonnes of barley a year, and in 2011 exported a record £4.2 billion worth of the spirit – up 23 per cent on 2010.

With such a valuable product at stake, it’s crucial that the country’s barley farmers are at the top of their game, both in the quality and quantity of their crop.

Which is where the James Hutton Institute (JHI) comes in.

The JHI carries out research at Balruddery Farm, 118 hectares of prime arable land seven miles west of Dundee, just over the Angus boundary, Balruddery recently became part of a £1.25 million project to discover how barley genetics can be used to improve its yield, disease resistance, quality and sustainability.

This work could have come at just the right time, believes Bruce Ferguson, general manager of Angus

Cereals, a cooperative of local farmers launched in 2011. Ferguson, who is also Scottish general manager of UK-wide farmers’ cooperative Openfield, hopes JHI’s research project will help with burgeoning international demand for Scotch whisky.

‘Projected demand for the end product, and therefore for the raw material, is set to increase,’ he explains. ‘What’s being looked at here is how we can enhance yield and reduce disease, and with it we will be able to have a potentially better product.

‘At face value, this is very encouraging.

It’s positive for Angus Cereals growers, who are producing some of the best quality barley around, and it’s positive across the board for Scottish growers.’

The JHI’s past successes in the berry world are numerous, including breeding strains of blackcurrant that account for an impressive 95 per cent of varieties grown in the UK, and 50 per cent worldwide.

They have also made a considerable

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Barley & Berries

difference to the fortunes of raspberry and blackberry growers, developing more flavoursome berries and higher yielding fruit plants that are better at fighting disease.

When it comes to strawberries, however, the majority of progress is made by commercial companies, and here Angus Soft Fruits take the lead. Ten years ago, the Seaton System was developed by a team of farmers working from East Seaton Farm, near Arbroath. This system of table-top polytunnel growing, that allows fruit and vegetables to be grown free of pesticide residues, has produced a successful supermarket range called Good Natured Fruit, and a variety of strawberry named AVA after the woman who first created it.

Lochy Porter, managing director of Angus Soft Fruits, was part of the original team that developed the AVA strawberry. ‘AVA made a big impact,’ he says. ‘It paved the way for the premium brand market. The main differences are the sweetness, the texture and the precise look of it – it looks nice to eat.’

AVA, and the newer strawberry varieties being developed from the AVA stable, along with popular varieties Elsanta and Sonata, are grown at East Seaton Farm. The holy grail of research, says Porter, is a fruit that is both simple and reliable to produce, but also has the taste to hook customers.

‘Strawberries are sweeter now. It’s a younger person’s taste, compared to back when they had a slight tartness to them,’ he explains. ‘AVA was a process of elimination from hundreds of thousands of varieties to just one. Now we’re doing that every year in a constantly

evolving process. It’s not only about the premium variety now; you’ll see a big difference in the standard varieties over the next few years.’

The practical application of all this isn’t just a matter of satisfying demanding supermarket shoppers; there is a whole range of other businesses that rely on the best, most reliable fruit sources possible. Anne Thompson owns Brechin-based Ella Drinks, whose main product is Bouvrage, a range of berry juices that uses a higher quantity of juice than anything else currently on the market.

The trick to her vibrantly coloured and flavoured raspberry, strawberry and blaeberry juices has been finding the perfect combination of berries, something she rates more highly than any expensive production machinery. ‘The research and development being done provides a crucial supply of good fruit,’ she says. ‘The growth of Angus Soft Fruit is key to the industry’s survival.

If you can’t keep plants alive you have nothing to sell. That combination of taste and the ability to grow is essential.’

Porter, like Thompson, strips away all the technicalities of growing ever more productive, tastier fruit to emphasise the fundamentally crucial nature of all this work: ‘If you produce and sell topquality fruit, people will come back for more. If you don’t, they won’t. As well as that being a great source of satisfaction, it’s a commercial necessity. That has to be a great motivator.’

■ anguscereals.co.uk ■ angussoftfruits.co.uk

■ bouvrage.com ■ hutton.ac.uk

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Salmon Netting

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Wild things – strong feelings

The quality and importance of Scottish salmon is perhaps best reflected by the passions and controversies it can stir up. John Cooke looks into the issues surrounding salmon netting

D

avid Pullar doesn’t have far to go to work in the morning. From his house overlooking the North Sea at Old Fishertown of Usan, just south of Montrose, it’s probably a one-minute walk to his open fishing ‘coble’.

Each morning and evening, as close to ebb tide as possible, he and his crew head out to the nets they have set along the coast close to the rocky shore. Anchored to the sea floor, these ‘fixed engines’, as the nets are called, lead the salmon migrating to local rivers into bag nets.

It’s a technique that hasn’t changed for centuries.

The Pullar family has been fishing since the 1960s when David’s father, David Snr, started the business.

Today, there are three generations involved in working the coast off Usan, as well as at two sites further north.

The wild Atlantic salmon they bring ashore in the season from spring to late summer (varying between 3,000 and 5,000 annually) go direct to UK and European customers both private and commercial, including top restaurants run by Tom Kitchin and Rick Stein. Some goes to be smoked at the Ugie Smokehouse in Peterhead.

Of course, traditional salmon netting is not without its controversy and intense local politics. Up-river salmon

fishermen and landowners concerned about the value of their beats are bitterly opposed to what goes on at Usan.

The Scottish government is under pressure to act on the grounds that Atlantic salmon numbers need further protection.

The Pullar family have had offers to buy them out, but they maintain their legal right to make a living and provide both employment and a highly sought-after delicacy.

Meanwhile, they are working with the government scientists investigating the decline in spring salmon from the South Esk River. As the catch comes ashore, the scientists record the details of every fish and take samples to help identify the habits of the migrating fish and hopefully manage their futures better.

Another initiative to protect the fish’s value is the tag identifying it as genuine ‘Wild Scottish Salmon’, attached within seconds of it being caught. A move to attain a valuable European protected designation is also well advanced, another indication of the continuing status of one of Scotland’s truly iconic, albeit controversial, wild foods.

■ usansalmon.com

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Orchards

Ripe for the picking

> RESETTING THE APPLE CART

Hannah Ewan finds apple orchards taking root all over Angus

The Hood Supreme apple was once common in Scottish orchards, but when Fred Conacher, tree officer for Angus Council, tried to source it for a project to revitalise Angus’ fruit trees, he found it had become so rare it didn’t even feature on specialist websites.

In December 2009, the Angus Orchards Project kicked off with schoolchildren planting ten heritage fruit trees at Glamis Castle’s Yew Walk Orchard. By the time it finished in March 2012, Conacher had overseen the planting of 357 trees in 28 orchards across Angus, with 75 different groups involved from schools to social work departments.

Orchards are particularly well suited to school gardens, as John Hancox of Scottish Orchards explains. ‘The orchards are planted over the winter.

They blossom in spring so can be integrated into lessons, and in autumn they fruit. The idea of kids planting trees is that they also get to harvest

and look after them, gaining an interest in growing food that will last them all their lives.’

Conacher made a concerted effort to return varieties of apple to areas where they had once thrived, but found his biggest issue was sourcing nurseries. His lifeline was John Butterworth, who Conacher describes as the ‘godfather of the resurgence of Scottish orchards.’

‘Many of these varieties were teetering on the edge of existence,’ says Conacher, ‘and John made it his objective to preserve them. The best way he could do that was to build a nursery and distribute them out.’

Conacher is now producing a leaflet to advise those in charge of new orchards. His aim is to see these orchards mature, become productive and part of the community again.

Those planted at the beginning of the project are already growing well and blossoming, and will soon produce fruit for locals young and old to enjoy.

Two of the apple varieties given new life by the Angus Orchards Project are Seaton House and Oslin. The former is a cooking apple developed in 1860, and now planted in the grounds of Seaton Grove retirement home on the outskirts of Arbroath. It was probably the handiwork of the Seaton House head gardener, after the Victorian fashion for landowners to give their name to an apple. Oslin, or the Arbroath Pippin, is one of the oldest known Scottish varieties, and was introduced to the Cistercian monks’ extensive Arbroath Abbey orchards in the twelfth century. It is a sharply spiced eating apple, with shades of aniseed. After dying out in the area, it was reintroduced to the abbey in March 2009 by the Arbroath Abbey World Heritage Campaign.

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Asparagus

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Spears of destiny When Sandy and Heather Pattullo attullo began replacing their potato and cereal fields with rows of asparagus, few ew locals even re recognised the new crop. Now asparagus is one of Scotland’s mostt eagerly awaited veget vegetables, writes Hannah Ewan

I

n 1985, Sandy Pattullo’s New Zealand cousins told him asparagus was the easiest thing they grew. With such an endorsement, he began an expanding his asparagus crop from fr a garden vegetable patch to o sseveral acres. In practice, Patullo found und growing asparagus at his Eassie Farm rm near Glamis hard graft. He remains ns one of only a the hhandful df l off Scottish S tti h fa ffarmers growing i th chilly climate. vegetable in this ch acres, Eassie Farm is one of With ten acr the country’ country’s largest, and arguably most successful, operations. It wasn’t always successfu remembers the reaction so. Pattullo P from his industry contacts when he first fro started selling his asparagus: ‘I rang a wholesaler I knew back then and he said: “Asparagus? Neeps and tatties, that’s all I need!”’ So he was forced to turn to the fruit markets, and accept whatever price they offered for his valuable crop.

Thingss are very different now. As a wet and cold May proves an asparagus farmer’s the farmhouse phone farm rmer’s nightmare, nightm rings rin with chefs che and wholefood shops desperate for aas many bunches as he can send them, while wh Pattullo wills his neat rows of spears spear to defy the chill spring wind and emerge from the soil. Locals eme turn up speculatively, hoping to buy specu bundles from the t Eassie farm shop where the Pattullos sell se half their crop. ‘They’re crying i outt for f it,’ i says Heather, who fields most of the urgent phone calls. ‘We could take a lorry to Edinburgh and empty it.’

Pattullo’s second crop, sea kale, is one that still provokes blank faces even among enthusiastic food lovers, and requires equally careful conditions for success. Growing such delicate crops comes with a certain amount of risk.

When a season is a matter of six weeks, time lost to bad weather can be crippling.

‘There’s always the risk of ending up with nothing,’ Pattullo admits. ‘Some

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Sea Kale

years we’ve not got 50 per cent of what we budgeted for.

Asparagus needs temperatures of 12 to 15 degrees, and it just stops growing when it’s wet.’

While Scotland’s wet weather can cause problems, he also credits the climate with the glowing praise lavished on his asparagus, including a testimonial from Michelinstarred chef Tom Kitchin that branded it ‘as good as anything you can get elsewhere in Europe, if not better.’

Pattullo responds to this with characteristic modesty: ‘We like to think we make a good go of it.’

‘It takes a bit longer to grow,’ he continues, ‘which might be part of the flavour – it gets more time in the sun. We do have to make allowances for the Scottish climate to some extent: we don’t get the same yield, for example, so I plant more acres than southern farmers would, in hope that we can supply the market.’

Asparagus is at its peak straight from the soil. ‘When sea kale and asparagus are in season we eat them every day,’ says Pattullo. ‘We never get sick of them.’

‘I think of asparagus all year, even when it’s not growing – you have to have the passion for it. Farmers I know who grow it might also grow potatoes and other crops, but asparagus is the one they love.’

■ S ee page 27 for details of the Pattullo’s Eassie Farm

Sea kale ‘Sea kale would have been in all the walled gardens of the 19th century,’ Sandy Pattullo explains, ‘but it fell out of use in the twentieth.’ When he started growing it in the 1980s, there was one other UK sea kale farmer. Nutty, sweet and succulent, the shoots are labour intensive and expensive to grow.

Supplying supermarkets ‘killed’ the other UK grower: ‘Every time he sent produce over, the supermarkets said he had to do it cheaper,’ says Pattullo, who turned down early offers to supply the big stores in favour of London’s Covent and Borough markets, and direct relationships with restaurants.

Overharvesting of wild sea kale in the 19th century led to a total ban on picking it, and without ‘thongs’ cut from the roots of existing plants it must be grown from seed, a process that takes years. If Eassie Farm ended production, it would be difficult for other commercial growers to begin from scratch.

Despite sea kale being a native British vegetable, to try it most people will need to make a very seasonal trip either to Eassie Farm, or to a handful

of restaurants that make use of it. London’s River Café takes several boxes a week during the short season, generally January to March, and in Scotland you’ll find it on menus at The Kitchin in Edinburgh, Perthshire’s Monachyle Mhor and Little’s Restaurant in Blairgowrie.

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Social Enterprise

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HOPE springs eternal The Hospitalfield Organic Produce Enterprise by Arbroath is reaping the rewards of its successful community gardening project. Catharina Day reports

C

reated with strong ideals and a great deal of practicality, the HOPE garden gives adults with learning difficulties the opportunity to train and work producing vegetables and fruit. It also provides the local community with organically grown fresh food and plants. Integral to the project is the encouragement and provision of social and educational activities for the trainees.

One of the original founders of the garden, Cedric de Voil works here with volunteers and a full-time gardener alongside 16 trainees, a few of whom have been here since the garden began in 1994. Every year each trainee works towards a certificate of achievement tailored to their abilities.

The rent-free land is generously provided by the trustees of the Patrick Allen Fraser Trust who run Hospitalfield House – a magnificent and inspiring old house where art is encouraged and created in the various studios, and the rooms hold a wonderful collection of Victorian pictures.

The garden, certified to produce organic food

by SOPA, includes a harvest of soft fruits such as raspberries, currants, peaches and apples, which can be bought in season, while the vegetables range from Scottish staples such as leeks and cabbages to Asian greens and tomatoes. A shop

has taken the place of the very popular vegetable box scheme that operated for ten years. Currently in one of the polytunnels, the shop is due to be moved to a sturdy shed soon to be built by the Praxis workshop run by Voluntary Action Angus.

Besides the fruit and vegetables, plants suitable for pots and hanging baskets will be sold, along with herbs and vegetable plants.

Organic and environmentally friendly practices are evident throughout the garden. Companion plants thrive next to each other and a small pond area is home to the toads keeping slugs and other pests down.

Steeped comfrey liquid is used as a fertilizer, while a concoction of rhubarb leaves kill the aphids.

Recycled items are used liberally in the garden: the trainees have constructed an ingenious potting shed entirely out of plastic bottles, while unwanted compact discs glitter in the sun as they swing between the vegetable rows keeping the birds away.

It’s not all about hard work – various fundraising events are popular with the trainees, who benefit enormously from the project in meeting people, learning new skills, working outdoors and eating the produce they grow. With the new shop due, the future for HOPE is looking busy.

■ hopegardentrust.org.uk

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Angus Ales

> STILL GOING STRONG

Good shot

Angus’ own micro-brewery finds plenty of inspiration in the area’s championship golf courses, as David Pollock discovers

W

hen Alan Lawson established Angus Ales in 2009, there had been no brewery in the county of Angus for half a century, he says. ‘It wasn’t the greatest real ale place,’ he laughs. ‘I was doing missionary work to a certain extent at first, but it’s getting more well-known now. People even come and visit us here.’

Lawson is a long-time real ale enthusiast and home brewer. His fourbarrel brewery is very much a local business, with the vast bulk of stock going to pubs and outlets within forty miles of his base in Carnoustie.

Operating out of an industrial unit in the town, Lawson makes use of the area’s rich golfing history in the branding of his ales. ‘One is called Mashie Niblick,’ he says, ‘a Mashie Niblick being a type of golf club from the days when they had names rather than boring numbers – about a seven iron in today’s money.

It’s a malty ale with a lot of toasted

barley in it, of a more traditional Scottish style. We have another brown beer called Birdie 3, which is more hoppy, a gold beer called Gowfer’s Gold – everybody has to have a gold beer these days – and a dark beer called Driver Dark, which uses roasted barley and chocolate malt. They all improve your game, by the way.’

Although he sells some bottled beers via wholesalers, Lawson’s belief is that the number of small craft brewers springing up in Scotland is putting pressure on an already crowded market.

As if to prove the point, 2012 sees the arrival of start-up MòR, a new microbrewery based in Kellas just outside Dundee.

There’s a lot of potential in the local constituency, however, and Lawson believes that the daily business of building good relationships with and offering quality service to publicans is key to success at this level.

It’s the only distillery in Angus, but Glencadam in Brechin has history.

Whisky has been produced in the same building since 1825, although the premises were significantly expanded in the 1950s.

Continuous production under various owners halted only with closure during both world wars and a brief three-year lay-off at the turn of this century, before being sold to Angus Dundee Distillers in 2003.

Using water from the North Esk eight-anda-half miles away, one of the longest journeys from source to distillery in Scotland, Glencadam’s range includes a 15-year-old single malt, a 12-yearold finished in Oloroso sherry butts and a 10-year-old ‘Portwood’ finished in port pipes.

Producing around 1.5million litres a year in two pots, they use unpeated malt and lye pipes which run upwards rather than down, the intention being to create a more delicate spirit with accentuated sweet and fruity flavours.

(David Pollock.)

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Jams & Chutneys

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Sticky business

With so much soft fruit grown in Angus, it is perhaps ironic that the region, or more accurately Dundee, is synonymous with marmalade made from a citrus fruit that would never grow in chilly Scottish groves. Hannah Ewan uncovered the thriving jam scene around the region

T

here are several well-kent tales as to the provenance of Dundee marmalade, none watertight.

They all, however, have James and Janet Keiller at their heart. We know for certain that Mrs Keiller did not, as the story goes, invent ‘chip marmalade’ (made with chopped rather than crushed rind) since recipes were already circulating in books like Edinburgh Edinbur cookery teacher Susanna MacIver’s Cookery and Pastry.

C Whether or not Janet Jan really did buy a bargain armful of Seville oranges from S a storm-docked ship in Dundee port, s marmalade production in 1797 was prod brisk enough enou for her son James to set up ‘James Keiller’, and to re-register it as ‘James Keiller & Son’ Son in 1804. By the mid-19th century their mid

factory employed 300 staff, and 2 million white ceramic jars of marmalade a year found their way right across the globe.

Nowadays, the only Angus producers of ‘traditional’ Dundee marmalade, boiled up in copper pots (though not to the Keiller recipe), are Mackays and Mrs Bridges. James Keiller & Son was bought by Cambridgeshire-based Robertson’s in 1988, but the area retains its excellent reputation for jams and preserves. Perhaps wisely, the focus has shifted to using the bountiful produce found growing in the area, particularly strawberries and raspberries.

From global companies like Arbroath-based Mackays using fruit from commercial Scottish growers, to domestic kitchen producers like Norma’s Homemade Preserves using fruit grown in her garden near Brechin, a small

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Jams & Chutneys army of stirrers is making the most of the region’s crop. Between them they make Angus’ jam available from supermarkets, farmers’ markets and everywhere in between.

Happy working from Forfar farmers’ market ‘because that’s where I feel confident’, Norma Mitchell started jammaking to use up a glut of fruit handed in to her local school, swapping it for sugar and skills. She still relies on a community way of trading, exchanging jam for fruit and vegetables from local gardens, and buying anything else she needs from the farmers’ market.

Somewhere in between the giant Mackays outfit and Mitchell falls Isabella’s Preserves. Louise Myles, who has owned the company since 2005, wasn’t long out of Aberdeen University when she took over Isabella Massie’s jam spoon. After staying with Massie and her husband Alastair for six months to learn both the jam and business ropes, she moved to Edzell, closer to a customer base that had outgrown their little Aberdeenshire kitchen.

When Myles answered a request from Alastair to help run a jam stall at the Highland Show, she had no idea she would eventually own the company. ‘I didn’t have this on my mind when I was a student,’ she admits. ‘I thought I might like to run my own business, but I didn’t know it would be in this direction – and I didn’t know I would be so young.’

Having more than doubled production in six years, Isabella’s Preserves now

jar 30 tonnes of jams, marmalades and relishes annually. Myles is hoping to extend her reach south of the border, as is another expanding company, Aberfeldy.

‘It is possible to scale up and still keep that artisan quality,’ believes Sandy Gray, who took over Aberfeldy Oatmeal in 2009, moving it from Perthshire to Carmyllie. Gray recently brought Nicoll’s of Strathmore into the brand, the jam range he has run for 11 years, and is now contemplating recruiting his first employee.

‘If I take someone on it would be easy to double production, and the more people who are employed the better.’ The difficult bit will be letting go of some control, having run a solo show for so long. ‘I’m kind of a perfectionist,’ he admits, ‘so they’ll need to be as well. My son already comes with me on delivery days and meets all my customers. I just need him to grow up a bit.’

With the recent planting of new orchards and fruit trees across the region, Angus looks set to become even more of a hub for Scottish fruit, and jam is the ideal long-life, low-tech way of using up that portion of the harvest that might not be pretty enough for a shop punnet. Whether it’s made in a saucepan in a family kitchen or a copper-bottomed vat in a factory, there is always someone, somewhere, stirring a pot of jam in Angus.

■ aberfeldyoatmeal.co.uk ■ isabellaspreserves.co.uk ■ mackays.com ■ mrsbridges.co.uk

> A STING IN THE TALE

With heather filled glens and a coast lined with oil seed rape, Angus is a hotspot for honey production. Two companies, Honeyhill Bee Farm in Montrose and Scarlett’s Scotland from Perthshire, are battling the mites and pesticides that have decimated bee populations in recent years to keep the region buzzing.

Honeyhill’s Ranald McBay keeps 700 hives along the coast during spring, for the blossom from plane trees, wild flowers and oil seed rape. In July, they’re driven to Glen Esk for the heather moors. Despite each hive housing between 20-30,000 bees, output is less reliable than when his grandfather started the business, he says. “We could collect tonnes, it could be pounds.

It’s a very, very risky business.” For some more than others – the business passed straight to McBay, after his father’s bee-sting allergy landed him in hospital.

■ scarlettshoney.co.uk

Norma’s Preserves

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Angus Food Round-up

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The food of Angus Looking for a taste of Angus? This round-up by Hannah Ewan and Donald Reid introduces you to what’s grown, reared, made and landed in the region Further details on many of the businesses shown in bold can be found listed in the Where to Buy section starting on page 26.

FRUIT & VEG

M

uch of Angus is given over to fruit, cereal and potato fields, and much of the resulting produce makes its way into the supermarket chains, via conduits like the Abbey Fruit packing plant in Arbroath. However, farm shops and farmers’ markets (see p.46) across the region are the best way to find the most local of fruit and veg, fresh from the field. Milton Haugh Farm Shop stock their own seasonal produce, while Peel Farm, Lunan Farm Shop and Braes of Coul showcase good local products, while Myreside Organics (myreside-organics.co.uk) brings organic salad leaves, beans, peas and other vegetables and plants to the Forfar and Montrose farmers’ markets between March and October.

You can pick your own berries at Charleton Fruit Farm in July and August. Charleton are also a good source of asparagus, as is the more famous Eassie Farm (see feature on p.16) which specialises in it (sold from the farm shop, generally open from late April or early May to June) as well as sea kale, harvested January to March.

Thanks to the Angus Orchards Project (see p.15), fruit trees are blossoming across Angus. Look out for apples in season and opportunities to volunteer all year round at Monikie Country Park, Forfar Country Park or Fairlie House (all angus.gov.uk), as well as HOPE garden trust (see p.18). HOPE’s new organic shop is an outlet for the fruit and veg their social enterprise garden produces.

Angus Soft Fruits play a prominent role in soft fruit production – the harvest from their group of growers supplies the Good Natured Fruit supermarket range.

Angus’ fruit is also vital to preservers throughout the region (see p.20), from the mighty Mackays (mackays.com) and Mrs Bridges (mrsbridges.co.uk) in Arbroath, found on shelves across the UK and abroad, to farm shops and delis stocked with Aberfeldy Oatmeal’s new jam range and Isabella’s Preserves. Don’t forget homemade jams by the likes of Norma’s Homemade Preserves, found at farmers’ markets.

BEEF, LAMB, GAME AND OTHER MEAT

A

s the name suggests, there’s no excuse for anything but the finest Aberdeen Angus beef in Angus. Kingston Farm is the home of the Dunlouise pure breed Aberdeen Angus herd (see feature on p.8). Angus has a good number of impressive high street butchers who can offer full local traceability, as with Milton Haugh Farm Shop’s shorthorn beef, Lunan Farm’s freerange pork and chicken and Peel Farm’s lamb, raised on site.

Visit South Powrie Farm (southpowrie.co.uk) just north of Dundee at Christmas for their KellyBronze turkeys. If you like your meat a little wilder, Glenogil Estate harbours roe deer, grouse, partridge and pheasant, shot in season and used by the Drovers Inn in Memus.

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Angus Food Round-up

FISH

A

s the first Angus seafood brought to mind, Arbroath smokies are as good a place as any to start when exploring the local produce. Smokers around the town are many, but thankfully not wildly varied: although recipes are passed down through generations, quality is consistently high. Some of the most well known are M & M Smith, Arbroath Fisheries, Alex Spink, Arbroath Smokies Direct, D Spink and Iain Spink, all of which use the traditional methods that have won the smokie Protected Geographical Indication status. Usan Salmon Fisheries, based in Montrose, is one of the last companies in Scotland to ‘bag’ wild salmon and sea trout in nets. This is then sold mostly to trade, although Usan smoked salmon is also available from their online shop.

BREAD, CAKES AND CHOCOLATE

W

ell-known bakers Saddler’s and James McLaren in Forfar are where you’ll find the famous bridie (see p.10). JM Bakery multitasks as high street baker and special occasion cake-maker, while Silla Keyser specialises in madeto-order, often theatrically elaborate cake extravaganzas. Take a course with Cakes by Grace (montrosecakes. com), who specialise in custommade celebration cakes, cupcakes and cookies, from imaginative Halloween cupcakes to artistic hand-painted creations. For traditionally home-baked bread, cakes and traybakes, Storm Cakes’ Irene Gow takes a stall at both farmers’ markets in Angus. Aberfeldy Oatmeal (aberfeldyoatmeal.co.uk) has a range of biscuits and shortbread made from their own Scottish oats and flour, stocked in farm shops and delis. Arbroath-based Mrs Bridges (mrsbridges.co.uk) also has a biscuit range, as well as ‘old fashioned’ hardboiled sweets. For more confectionery

than you could shake a stick at, Sugar and Spice’s range takes in hard-

boiled classics, home-made fudge, gluten, dairy and even sugar-free treats.

If you’re in Forfar, pop into Springers to try Damien Bailey’s hand-made chocolates, something Johanna Woodhead of 88 Degrees also specialises in – the full range of fresh cream truffles is available from her Kirriemuir shop, with hand-made chocolate bars from the Forfar branch.

DAIRY

I

f you’re looking to buy local, the North Street Dairy in Forfar is the first and only port of call for distinctive Angus dairy. Using milk from farms within a ten mile radius, you can buy it from the dairy, as well as home-made cream and butter, or sign up to the local delivery service. Part ice-cream parlour, part coffee shop, Vissochi’s ice-cream is a popular Kirriemuir treat.

WHISKY, BEER AND OTHER DRINKS

J

oining the Scottish microbrewing revolution is MòR Brewing (morbrewing.com), a new outfit based in Kellas near Monifieth, whose ales are just starting to flow into local drinking houses.

They join still-youthful Angus Ales, started in 2009 in Carnoustie (see feature on p.19). From the fledgling to the deeply rooted and historic, Brechin’s Glencadam Distillery (see p.19) has been transforming water into non chill-filtered, colour-free whisky for over 185 years. It’s not all about the alcoholic, though. Ella Drinks (see p.13), also in Brechin, produce Bouvrage, a range of fruit drinks containing a uniquely high percentage of berry juice. As with the majority of local, artisan products, look for it at farmers’ markets, farm shops and delis, or take the mail order route via their website.

> ALLEZ LES BLEUS Though Edzell Blue potatoes were first recorded in 1915, an unknown gardener from the town is thought to have bred them in the 1800s.

That mystery grower created a strangelooking tuber, with deep purple skin contrasting against snow-white flesh.

Unfortunately some of the romance is lost in the cooking, as Edzells are famously hard to boil successfully.

Indeed, doing so is said to have been the test when hiring a cook in the area. A dry potato with good, mild flavour, they take most happily to being chipped or roasted, which retains much of their purple colour; when boiled the skins turn brown.

Their floury flesh also lends itself to stovies.

Demand isn’t high enough to make them a commercial prospect, says Francis Webster of Ashbrook Nursery, who used to grow the potato. But ‘they’re different, and a bit exciting’.

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Name section

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Map

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Name of section

TheThe Angus Fife Larder 25

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Where to Buy

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WHERE TO BUY

All Seasons Farm Shop, Kirriemuir

In addition to the shops listed below, Angus produce can be found at local farmers’ markets (see p.46) or obtained directly from producers featured elsewhere in the guide. Entries in are grouped into four geographical areas running roughly north to south in Angus. Within each area entries are sorted alphabetically.

MONTROSE, BRECHIN AND AROUND ■ Bel’s Butchers 25A High Street, Edzell 01356 648409 Mon–Fri 7.30am–5pm; Sat 7.30am– 4pm. Closed Sun.

Alongside an array of local meat, including cold meats such as glazed gammons and roast beef, Bel Forbes and her friendly team also make other products to their own recipes – sausages, burgers, black pudding, white pudding, haggis, polony, clootie dumpling, and kebabs. Cooked and other ready-to-eat items include pies and pastry products, pâté, potted hough, stovies, macaroni cheese, coleslaw, soups and sandwiches.

See also panel on p.9.

■ Bruce Brymer Family Butcher 9 St David Street, Brechin 01356 624645 Mon–Fri 7am–5pm; Sat 7am–4.45pm.

Closed Sun.

A family butchers of over 20 years standing, beef, pork, lamb, game and poultry are all sourced locally and the bacon is dry cured in-house. Ready meals and pies are prepared and cooked daily on the premises. The sausage cabinet contains over 15 different varieties and new flavours are created regularly – their pork, apricot and leek sausage is a former winner of the BBC Good Food Guide’s Sausage of the Year. In 2011, one of the butchers,

Murray Jamieson, won the Scottish Meat Training’s Young Butcher of the Year in the under 22 category. Staff are knowledgable, friendly and helpful.

■ Charleton Fruit Farm Hillside, Montrose 01674 830226, charleton-farm.co.uk Apr–Jun: Mon–Sun 10.30am–4.30pm; Jul–Sep: Mon–Sun 9am–5pm; Oct–Dec: Mon–Sun 10.30am– 4.30pm.

See entry on p.34

■ IC Fruit Company Montrose Town Hall Wed 8.30am–3pm.

See main entry on p.28.

■ Nature’s Garden 38–40 Murray Street, Montrose 01674 671060 Mon/Tue 8am–4pm; Wed 8am–1pm; Thu–Sat 8am–4pm.

Wife of Neil Watt the Butcher (see below), Carol-Ann runs Nature’s Gardens, just across the road from her husband’s shop. She is the only person in Angus to sell Burdall’s gravy salt, and customers come from Dundee and beyond to purchase it. The selection of fruit and vegetables sold are grown in the UK, the vast majority gathered in from local producers.

■ Watt the Butcher Ltd 39–41 Murray Street, Montrose 01674 672777, wattthebutcher.co.uk Mon/Tue 5.30am–5.30pm; Wed 5.30am–1.30pm; Thu/Fri 5.30am– 5.30pm.

Neil Watt is larger than life. He is the epitome of a traditional butcher who takes time to get to know his customers and is always helpful and friendly.

Ever-present behind the counter, he will proudly tell you that he has had no more than ten days off in the past eight years. He and his colleagues will go out of their way to obtain the cut you want.

If something specific is requested it is worth telephoning in advance so that they can have it ready for collection.

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Where to Buy

FORFAR, KIRRIEMUIR AND THE GLENS ■ AH & HA Pattullo Eassie Farm, by Glamis 01307 840303 Seasonally Mon–Sun 9am–5pm.

The Pattullos have been growing asparagus and sea kale for almost 30 years, supplying some of the UK’s finest restaurants from their specialist farm.

Half their crop is sold from the farm shop, open during asparagus season (roughly early May to the end of June).

Growth is entirely weather dependent, so at the season edges it’s best to call before visiting. See p.16 for more.

■ All Seasons Farm Shop 14 Glengate, Kirriemuir 07591 675674 Tue–Sat 9am–5pm. Closed Sun/Mon.

This is a slightly different take on a farm shop in that owner Arlene Forman takes in any excess garden produce from

local people and sells it on. It is a great idea, although she isn’t always as well stocked as she would like. There are some fantastically fresh and seasonal fruit and vegetables for sale though, as well as Norma’s Homemade Preserves.

■ Braes of Coul Farm Shop Peel Farm, Lintrathen, by Kirriemuir 01575 521046, braesofcoul.co.uk Mon–Sun 12.30–5pm.

Based in an outbuilding beside Peel Farm Coffee Shop, this no-frills farm shop stocks beef and lamb reared on Middle Coul Farm, four miles away on the hillside above Loch of Lintrathen at the southern end of Glen Isla. There isn’t a wide choice available, but you can normally pick up a few local items including packs of venison from Dundee-based Highland Game, Norma’s Homemade jams and local fruit and veg, including strawberries and raspberries, in season. Braes of Coul also take a stall at Forfar Farmers’ Market, and they supply their own coffee shop, Dirlie

The EATsafe scheme provides an incentive for food businesses to strive for excellence in their food hygiene and food safety management. This helps consumers to make informed choices about where to eat out by providing an instantly recognisable 'logo' of excellence in standards of food hygiene.

The Eatsafe assurance scheme is being introduced across Angus.

So when looking for the best in Angus, look out for Eatsafe businesses and be confident of quality.

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Where to Buy

list.co.uk

Bane, located in the centre of Alyth.

This is an entirely separate operation to Peel Farm, who run their own farm shop on site.

■ D&A Kennedy 10-12 Castle Street, Forfar 01307 462118, ewartsbutchers.co.uk Mon–Sat 7am–5pm. Closed Sun. James McLaren & Son, Forfar and Kirriemuir

Alan Kennedy would describe his butcher’s businesses D&A Kennedy and James Ewart (see p.33) as founded on two principles: quality and service.

These are in evidence when you step into this Forfar shop. There’s an impressive selection of fresh, locally sourced beef, lamb, pork and game on offer, supplemented with other goodies such as asparagus from nearby Eassie and free-range eggs from Tillygloom farm in Brechin. The shop is a member of the prestigious Q Guild Group of Butchers and all beef, lamb and pork is bought at the Forfar Mart from local farms with proven standards in animal welfare and stock husbandry.

■ 88 Degrees Fine Food Emporium • 17 High Street, Kirriemuir 01575 570888 Wed–Fri 9.30am–5pm; Sat 9.30am– 4pm; Sun 10am–4pm. Closed Mon/ Tue. • 11 West High Street, Forfar 07758 558121 Mon–Tue 9am–3pm; Wed–Sat 9am– 4pm; Sun 10am–4pm.

Johanna Woodhead and her husband Philip gave up high-pressure executive jobs to follow their dream of opening up an artisan deli and café in Kirriemuir.

They work hard to stock interesting cheeses and meats and Johanna has been recognised in the Great Taste Awards for her vinaigrette and handmade chocolates. She was also chosen by celebrity chef Gary Rhodes as a Local Food Hero. What makes the café especially interesting is the large central table which creates a hubbub of activity and allows customers to mingle and chat.

■ Granite City Fish Co. Ltd 10 West High Street, Forfar 01307 462705, granitecityfish. sharepoint.com Tue–Fri 8.30am–4.30pm; Sat 8am–2pm. Closed Sun/Mon.

Most of this fishmonger’s stock comes daily from Aberdeen fish market as hardly any boats fish out of Angus harbours these days, but the selection is impressive. If you get in touch the day before they can order all sorts of exotic species including pink bream, tuna, swordfish, grouper and snapper. Local favourites such as haddock, cod and lemon sole are usually available. Two other Granite branches, at 16 High Street in Carnoustie and 91 South Street in Perth, make up the full fleet.

■ IC Fruit Company 11 Church Street, Newtyle 07599 500222 • Castle Street, Forfar: Mon 8.30am–2.30pm • The Applegate, Arbroath: Tue & Thu–Sat 8.30am–4.30pm • Montrose Town Hall: Wed 8.30–3pm

Ian Sharp’s fruit and vegetables can be found at his stall in various Angus towns throughout the week – offering extremely fresh produce at very reasonable prices.

Local harvest from around the village of Friockheim is stocked during the summer months when in season, and soft fruit such as strawberries and raspberries are brought in from Blairgowrie.

■ James McLaren and Son • 22/26 Market Street, Forfar 01307 463315 • 8 The Cross, Forfar 01307 462762 • 9 High Street, Kirriemuir 01575 572964 thebridieshop.co.uk Mon–Wed & Fri 7.45am–4pm; Thu 7.45am–1pm; Sat 7.30am–4pm.

Closed Sun.

If you’re a bridie connoisseur, then this baker is one of two essential destinations in the town to get an authentic version of the local speciality. The McLarens only

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Where to Buy

use steak in their bridies, and they’ve been baking them at the Market Street location since 1893 so they must have perfected the recipe by now. There are cheery faces behind the counter, and enough cakes to keep the Scottish sweet tooth satisfied.

■ James Pirie & Son 39 Church Street, Newtyle 01828 650301 Mon–Fri 8am–6pm; Sat 8am–5.30pm.

Closed Sun.

This friendly family-owned butcher isfamous for its sausages and haggis. All their meat is sourced from within Angus, and they dry cure their own bacon.

They can boast 38 different sausage recipes, up to 16 of which will be in the counter every day, with the likes of pork, pear and black pudding alongside the more conventional. New for 2012 is their own freshly baked bread and pastries, and you can also buy asparagus and fresh berries in season, local eggs, butter, oatcakes and honey. Barbecue and weekend special boxes, breakfast packs for self-catering cottages, luxury hampers and even a catered barbecue with a professional chef are all on offer.

■ North Street Dairy 22 North Street, Forfar 01307 463796, northstreetdairy.co.uk Mon–Fri 8am–6pm; Sat 8.30am–2pm.

Closed Sun.

A family business now in its fourth generation, North Street Dairy’s motto is ‘From cow to cuppa in 24 hours,’ and they achieve this by sourcing their milk from nearby Baldoukie farm. The milk also goes into making delightfully creamy butter which has garnered silver and gold awards at the Highland Show.

Local producers supply the eggs and potatoes they sell.

■ Peel Farm Courtyard, Farm Shop and Coffee Shop Lintrathen, by Kirriemuir 01575 560718, peelfarm.com Mon–Sun 8am–5pm. Jan/Feb open weekends only.

Not far from the Loch of Lintrathen at the foot of Glenisla, Peel Farm is set in the very northwest of the region of Angus and sums up the easy rural charm of the Angus Glens. The collection of farm outbuildings include a coffee shop serving lunches, tea and treats, while the Courtyard gift and craft shop shares space with a well-stocked farm shop featuring the farm’s own rare-breed pork and lamb, as well as Highland beef from Glenisla and various products from Angus, Aberdeenshire, Perthshire and Fife. Note that the Braes of Coul farm shop is located in a different building on the same site, but this is a separate business.

■ Rennie’s the Butcher 8 East High Street, Forfar 01307 466614 Mon–Sat 7am–5pm. Closed Sun.

This bright, clean, traditional local butcher shop specialises in meat from the nearby area, especially Aberdeen Angus beef. They often buy directly from local farmers, and their wellstocked counter includes Stornoway black pudding and bridies from Saddler’s Bakery, for which Rennie’s provide the meat for the filling.

■ Saddler’s of Forfar 35 East High Street, Forfar 01307 463282 Mon–Sat 7am–5pm. Closed Sun.

One of two bakers in the town making the Forfar bridie, Saddler’s is a clean, bright bakery shop with cheerful staff offering an impressive array of traditional Scottish cakes and, of course, the famous local pasty. The pleasant café serves up drinks and simple light lunches such as home-made soup and quiche as well as sandwiches made to order.

■ Small’s Confectionary 82 Castle Street, Forfar 01307 462404 Mon–Sat 9am–5pm. Closed Sun.

This old-fashioned sweet shop was founded over 50 years ago by current

> MILLING ABOUT

Scots still have great respect and use for the humble oat, yet of the 140 traditional mills that once dotted the Angus landscape, only a couple are still working. Barry Mill, a lovely old watermill in a timeless setting by the Barry Burn, was the last waterpowered mill to operate commercially in Angus, producing oatmeal and animal feed until 1982. A National Trust property from 1988, the mill was restored to its 1811 state. Resident miller Peter Ellis says: ‘This mill would have been the heart of this local community, and would have been a predominant source of food for the people living here. One school pupil visiting here said to me: “But your flour is dirty” – he didn’t understand the concept of wholemeal.

We need to keep the process alive to show people where real food was made in the past.’

■ For information on visiting, and times of demonstrations, see nts.org.uk/Property/ Barry-Mill The Angus Larder 29

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Peel Farm Shop, Lintrathen

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owner Michael Small’s parents – which is why he’s been helping produce the goodies since the age of eight. The Smalls are best known for their tablet, which they send all over the world, even to troops out in Afghanistan. They also produce their own fudge, traybakes, macaroons, coconut fudge and ice, and old-fashioned crispets. During the summer they get twice-daily deliveries of strawberries from Benshee Farm near Kirriemuir.

■ The Star Rock Shop 27–29 The Roods, Kirriemuir 01575 572579, starrockshop.co.uk Tue–Sat 9.30am–5pm. Closed Sun/ Mon.

If you want to find out what sweet things Queen Mary and Peter Pan author JM Barrie once indulged in, then the Star Rock Shop is a must visit.

Since it opened in 1833, the shop and its most famous sweetie have changed remarkably little. The tempting treat was created nearly 180 years ago by Brechin man David Ferguson as a way of making money after he lost his sight.

Now, after feeding the troops in two world wars and delighting Queen Mary, the recipe is still going strong. And the shop itself is still bursting at the seams with lots of home-made goodies such as tablet, fudge, cream rock, treacle toffee and humbugs.

■ Visocchi’s Café 37 High Street, Kirriemuir 01575 572115 Mon–Wed & Fri–Sun 9am–4pm; Thu 9am–noon.

Look past the slightly tired interior of Vissochi’s Café (renovations are planned by the current owners, who took over from the Vissochi family in 2009) and there’s clearly a charming Italianstyle café. The ice-cream made here, based on an original recipe brought over from Italy in the 1930s, remains popular locally, with an array of 20 flavours including Italian cookie, ‘Bilberry Bliss’ or even a Peter Pan special (pineapple and marshmallow).

ARBROATH AND AROUND ■ Alex Spink and Sons 24 Seagate, Arbroath 01241 879056, arbroathsmokiesonline.co.uk Mon–Fri 8am–4pm.

This family business has been built up since 1977, producing the famous Arbroath smokies and supplying fish wholesale. They also provide an online ordering service. The company uses oak rather than beech in the smoking process, and sells hot smoked salmon, smoked salmon and hot smoked trout in addition to the popular hot smoked haddock speciality. Iain R Spink (see p.6 & 31) prepares his smokies here before taking them to food fairs or farmers’ markets.

■ Arbroath Fisheries 5 Seagate, Arbroath 01241 872331, arbroath-smokie.co.uk Mon–Fri 8am–5pm; Sat/Sun 10am–4pm.

With samples of hot smoked haddock and salmon sitting out on the counter for customers to try, it’s evident that the smokies at this fish shop and smokery are superb and deserve their great reputation in the town. There is a good selection of other fish on sale, including lemon sole, monkfish tails and halibut, and a wide variety of seafood can be ordered in advance such as lobster and other shellfish.

■ Arbroath Smokies Direct Ladybridge House, 46 Ladybridge St, Arbroath 01241 876254, arbroathsmokiesdirect.co.uk Mon–Fri 8am–6pm; Sat 9am–6pm; Sun 10am–6pm.

Stuart and Audrey Scott’s small fish shop close to the harbour sells Arbroath smokies online as well as fresh, smoked and cooked fish and shellfish. Audrey cooks up dishes for the shop including smokie pâté and roasted salmon with a

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chilli glaze, and Stuart supports the local Rotary Club in their aim to help eradicate polio worldwide by donating a generous percentage of his online sales towards the cause.

won medals from the Scottish Meat Federation. The meat sold is bought at the Forfar Mart, with the beef hung for 24 days, and the bacon comes from Blairgowrie.

■ CG Fleming

■ E&O Fish

27 West Port, Arbroath 01241 879119 Mon–Sat 8am–5pm. Closed Sun.

East Grimsby, Arbroath 01241 873574 Mon–Fri 7am–7pm; Sat/Sun 8am–6pm.

The famous Fleming steak and gravy pies have been made since 1925. The lamb, beef and pork comes from the Forfar Mart, and then is hung for at least two weeks. The bacon is cured here and the butchery makes its own haggis, sausages, black and white pudding, with a selection of cold meats cooked on the premises. There is an appealingly old-fashioned feel to this butcher’s shop with a separate booth where you pay for your goods.

■ D Spink Fishmongers 51–53 High Street, Arbroath 01241 875732 Mon–Sat 8.30am–5.30pm. Closed Sun.

Housed in a new building at the back of the family residence, this fish shop includes a closed-off area at the rear where the filleting and smoking takes place. Fresh haddock, smoked haddock and traditional smokies are all available along with prepared crab and free-range eggs from the owner’s farm in Monikie.

There are plans to open another shop in Broughty Ferry.

■ DH Robertson 7 Fisheracre, Arbroath 01241 430669 Mon–Sat 7am–5pm. Closed Sun.

There has been a butcher’s shop on this site for 50 years. Steven Bennett took over the business five years ago and has maintained its good reputation, using traditional recipes for black pudding, haggis and sausages, while improvising with some new flavours, such as his excellent pork, black pudding and beetroot sausages. The acclaimed steak pie and haggis he makes have

This fishmonger close to Arbroath harbour offers a consistently wide selection of fresh and smoked seafood, including monkfish, fresh hake, smoked hake, kippers, shellfish and lemon sole.

The shop is always busy, and later openings than most shops mean it is handy for buying something fresh on the way home from work – perhaps one of their good smokies or other hot smoked fish.

■ Hospitalfield Organic Produce Enterprise Hope Garden, Hospitalfield House, Westway, Arbroath 07963 322457, hopegardentrust.org.uk Mon–Fri 10am–4.30pm. Closed Sat/ Sun.

This inspiring kitchen garden has come about because of the energy and vision of the founders and the generous rent-free land donated by the trustees of Hospitalfield House. A large variety of vegetables and fruits are grown outside and in polytunnels by the trainees – adults with learning difficulties.

Everything is grown organically and it is possible to buy the produce straight from the garden. The shop’s opening hours have been extended and a new shed is due to be constructed as a dedicated retail space – creating another social and educational opportunity to add to the horticultural experience that the garden makes possible for the trainees.

■ IC Fruit Company The Applegate, Arbroath Tue & Thu–Sat 8.30am–4.30pm

See main entry on p.28.

CHEF’S CHOICE DAVID BRADLEY ON ARBROATH SMOKIES

‘When considering the ingredient I most enjoy working with, I can’t see past Arbroath smokies.

I’m originally from Yorkshire and always supported the Whitby kipper, but I’ve been swayed by the freshness and quality of the smokies on my doorstep in Arbroath. We offer diners a taste early on, as our bread board comes with a smokie pâté which everyone devours.

We use the fish in all the classics – Cullen skink, kedgeree and fish cakes.

At a recent tapas evening we offered Arbroath smokie croquettas, which were well received and proved what a versatile ingredient it is. Everyone in this town has their preferred smoker, but in my opinion they all have the experience and commitment to quality that ensure great smokies.’

■ David Bradley is head chef at the Harbourside Grill in Arbroath (see p.41).

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■ Iain R Spink Original Smokies from Arbroath Forehills Farmhouse, Arbroath 01241 860303, arbroathsmokies.net

Saddler’s of Forfar

An Arbroath smokie hot from Iain Spink’s barrel is right up there with any worldclass street food – and if he has any hot smoked trout, try that too. The smoking takes place at various food events through the year and weekly farmers’ markets across the region. Look out for upcoming events on his interesting website, and then sniff out the beech and oak smoke on the day. Iain is regularly gathering awards, and does much to raise the profile of the smokie and its unique taste on his travels.

■ Lunan Farm Shop and Café Lunan Farm, Lunan Bay, Arbroath 01241 830506 Mon–Sun 9am–5pm.

See entry on p.41.

■ M&M Smith 22 High Street, Arbroath 01241 877836 Mon–Sat 8am–5pm. Closed Sun.

In the typical Arbroath manner, customers go through an alley into the backyard of a private house to this small fish shop.

On sale is a limited variety of excellent fresh and smoked fish, including Arbroath smokies and smoked hake, as well as the delicious fresh haddock that is a staple of fish shops around here.

■ M&M Spink 10 Marketgate, Arbroath 01241 875287, arbroathsmokies.co.uk Mon–Sat 8am–6pm; Sun 10am–5pm.

When Rick Stein waxes lyrical about an Arbroath smokie, you know it’s likely to be good. Arbroath-based Bill Spink has been producing the hot smoked haddock delicacies since 1965, and has gained wide acclaim – with his hot smoked salmon using fish from Shetland also renowned.

Customers can watch the fish being prepared for smoking and filleting in a backyard shed with a view of the harbour.

The little shop also sells various wet fish

such as crab, crayfish tails and lemon sole, plus smokie pâté and fish cakes.

■ Mackays Ltd James Chalmers Road, Arbroath 01241 432500, mackays.com Mon–Thu 9am–4.30pm; Fri 9am–3pm.

Closed Sat/Sun.

A manufacturer of marmalades, preserves and curds, and the last commercial marmalade producer in the Dundee area, Mackays uses a traditional slow boiling method in huge copper pans. Raspberries, strawberries and blackcurrants grown in Angus, Perthshire and Fife go into the mixed or single fruit preserves, and they produce ginger and champagne marmalades as well as the traditional Dundee variety using Spanish citrus fruit. Open during the week, the shop beside the factory sells the whole range, including the Mrs Bridges products made in the factory, and is great for discontinued lines at knockdown prices.

■ Milton Haugh Farm Shop & The Corn Kist Coffee House Milton Haugh Farm, Carmyllie,

by Arbroath 01241 860579, miltonhaugh.com Mon–Sat 9am–5pm; Sun 10am–5pm.

This well-stocked farm shop near Arbroath sells big sacks of various farm-grown potatoes and other seasonal veg including carrots, cauliflowers and sprouts. There are imported vegetables as well, plus dry goods and chutneys, and home-made jams, honey and jellies.

Their own-reared Shorthorn Cross beef is available alongside free-range chickens and eggs, and frozen game. The chickens – available usually from Wednesday onwards – are huge and delicious, as is the pâté made from their livers.

Milton Haugh also raises turkeys for the Christmas market.

■ Smithies Deli 16 Keptie Street, Arbroath 01241 873344, smithiesdeli.co.uk Mon–Sat 9.30am–4.30am. Closed Sun.

See entry on p.41.

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■ Sugar and Spice 9–13 High Street, Arbroath 01241 437500, sugarandspiceshop.co.uk Mon–Sat 10am–5pm; Sun noon– 6.30pm.

This Aladdin’s cave is crammed full of goodies and gifts, including old-fashioned sweets, home-made fudge and Orkney ice-cream. The restaurant, complete with waitresses in frilly white aprons, is in a separate room with a conservatory and outdoor terrace. The food includes hearty portions of soup made with local vegetables, Arbroath smokies cooked in various ways, baked potatoes, egg dishes and lasagne. Teas and coffees are served all day with a choice of teacakes, meringues and tarts. Owned by members of the Spink dynasty, the link with the smokie tradition is hinted at by photographs of fishermen on the walls.

CARNOUSTIE, MONIFIETH AND AROUND ■ The Carnoustie Country Larder 18 High Street, Carnoustie Mon & Wed–Sat 9am–5pm; Tue 9am–1pm. Closed Sun.

A relatively new arrival in Carnoustie, this small greengrocer and deli stocks fresh fruit and vegetables, local eggs and cheeses, jams, chutneys and sauces. The locally sourced fresh produce shifts with the seasons with local berries, asparagus and root vegetables appearing at different times of year. Everything is appealingly displayed in open boxes and old furniture.

‘Soup in a bag’, containing all the necessary ingredients bar water, makes life easy, and plans are afoot to offer veg boxes of differing sizes to suit singles, couples or families.

■ JM Bakery 118 High Street, Carnoustie 01241 859530, jmbakery.co.uk Mon–Fri 7am–5pm; Sat 7am–4pm.

Closed Sun.

This bakery boasts a wide selection of fresh baking from bread and cakes to signature Barry Bannocks (oatcakes), as well as sausage rolls, pies and sandwiches – with the meat, fruit and cream used coming from local sources. Also look out for their steak pies, meringue, gingery Angus perkins and fresh local eggs. In the same family for over 35 years and now run by husband and wife Mark and Sheila Robb, JM has expanded to three shops: the main bakery in Carnoustie, a shop in Monifieth, with its window full of colourful wedding cakes decorated by Sheila (you can watch her work), and the latest outlet in Arbroath.

■ James Ewart Ltd • 14–16 High Street, Monifieth 01382 532029 • 72 High Street, Carnoustie 01241 855162, ewartsbutchers.co.uk Mon–Sat 7am–5pm. Closed Sun.

A wonderful old family butcher, with three shops in Angus, the service at Ewart’s is friendly and the meat top quality. Alan Kennedy, owner of Ewart’s as well as D&A Kennedy (see p.28) is at Forfar Mart every Wednesday buying his beef and lamb, and the farmers the meat is sourced from each week are listed in the shop window. They are particularly proud of their well-hung beef (dry-aged for two to three weeks), and there is a wide range of fresh meat, cooked pies and quiches as well as oatcakes and chutneys for sale, as well as seasonal barbecue packs or meat box specials. Staff will happily offer cooking advice and recommendations.

■ The Speckled Hen Newbigging Farm, Tealing 01382 380255 Mon–Sat 9am–4.30pm; Sun 10am– 4.30pm.

See full entry for this café and farm shop on p.44.

> TO MARKET, TO MARKET

From six weekly livestock markets that once ran throughout Angus and Dundee in the post-war period, the Forfar Mart is the only one remaining.

That’s not to give the impression that it clings to life – Lanarkbased owners Lawrie & Symington recently invested £500,000 in the market, and it plays a significant and thriving role as a link between local farmers and local butchers, as well as hosting antiques auctions and even weddings. The mart took its current form in 1967, and still sees butchers and farmers arriving from counties beyond Angus, ensuring that the market has a significant role to play in the wider region.

While not as large as Stirling or Thainstone markets, 50 prime cattle come through the weekly sales, as well as up to 4,000 prime lambs in season.

■ lawrie-and-symington. com

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WHERE TO EAT Listings of Angus’ best options for eating out, including daytime cafés, takeaways, casual bistros and formal restaurants. Entries are grouped into four geographical areas running roughly north to south in Angus. Within each area entries are sorted alphabetically But ‘n’ Ben, Auchmithie

MONTROSE, BRECHIN AND AROUND ■ Brechin Castle Garden Centre Café Haughmuir, Brechin 01356 626813, brechincastlecentre.co.uk Mon–Sat 9am–5.45pm; Sun 10am– 5.45pm.

Easily accessed just off the A90, this light and spacious café in the garden centre benefits from lovely views of a lake. It is useful for families with young children thanks to a small indoor play corner and a large outdoor play area. It’s an ideal stop for an easy sandwich, cup of coffee and cake, or a more substantial hot meal served until mid afternoon. Within the garden centre there is also a small ‘farm shop’ section selling local produce such as Isabella’s Preserves.

■ Charleton Fruit Farm Hillside, Montrose 01674 830226, charleton-farm.co.uk Apr–Jun: Mon–Sun 10.30am–4.30pm; Jul–Sep: Mon–Sun 9am–5pm; Oct– Dec: Mon–Sun 10.30am–4.30pm.

A family fruit farm with a produce and gift shop and café one mile north of Montrose, Charleton sells pick-your-own and a variety of fresh soft fruit, as well as potatoes, six varieties of home-grown asparagus, plus home-made preserves and chutneys. It is popular with families thanks to the large outdoor and small indoor play areas, and good coffee and light lunches are available from the café, including kids’ menus and the recently

added afternoon tea with sandwiches, fruit scones, tray bakes and tea for just under £10. Gluten-free cakes are also available.

■ Glenesk Retreat Tarfside, Glenesk 01356 648070, gleneskretreat.co.uk Mon–Sun noon–6pm (generally closed in winter months, depending on volunteer staffing).

For an insight into glen life there can be no better place to visit than the Glenesk Retreat and Folk Museum. Situated eight miles from Edzell, within the picturesque glen, it is owned by the community and run by local volunteers. The restaurant, which is fully licensed, offers traditional Scottish dishes made with locally sourced ingredients. All-day breakfasts and a selection of fresh sandwiches and panini sit alongside a homely lunch menu that includes mince and tatties and ploughman’s lunch. The venison haggis, made from Invermark deer, is something of a signature dish. A delicious assortment of puddings, cakes and pastries includes some sensational shortbread. There is a small play area for children, plus companies on site offering outdoor activities.

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■ Links Hotel Mid Links, Montrose 01674 671000, linkshotel.com Koffiehuis: Mon–Sat 10am–5pm.

Closed Sun. Restaurant: Mon–Sat noon–2.30pm, 6pm–9pm; Sun noon–2.30pm.

This hotel is one of Montrose’s best and well-known. With 25 bedrooms and rooms available to hire for private dining it has some good facilities such as WiFi for all customers. The Koffiehuis in the hotel serves sandwiches, cakes and coffee or more substantial lunches, and it is very kid-friendly with a children’s menu and plenty of high chairs. There is also sheltered seating outside. Franc Rivault is the head chef in the separate, more formal restaurant and the menu lists traditional Scottish fare such as haggis alongside the fresh catch of the day, all at reasonable

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prices. Live entertainment including regular folk and jazz gigs is a regularly scheduled.

■ Madison’s 79 High Street, Montrose 01674 678432 Mon–Sat 8am–5pm; Sun 11am–4pm.

10 Café Bar, Forfar

This accessible, simply furnished café is child-friendly and sells a good Fairtrade coffee. Sitting outside is an option in decent weather as is taking away drinks and food from their menu, which features breakfast and light lunch options of soup and sandwiches, as well as cakes. The home-made traybakes stand out for many of its regulars.

■ Mum’s of Montrose Tea Rooms 121 High Street, Montrose 01674 6711118 Mon–Sat 10am–4pm. Closed Sun.

This snug little café, as the name suggests, is as much about keeping the town’s youngsters happy as it is about feeding the parents. It is very childfriendly, with a sweet play area, plenty of high chairs, bibs and activities. There is lots for the kids to eat as well, while adults enjoy the selection of soup and sandwiches or just have a rest with a coffee and cake.

■ Northern Hotel 2 Clerk Street, Brechin 01356 625400, northern-hotel.co.uk Mon–Fri noon–2pm & 5–8.45pm; Sun noon–3pm & 5–7.45pm.

This welcoming restaurant in the hotel serves traditional Scottish dishes such as steak and haggis and skirlie chicken alongside popular choices including battered haddock and lasagne. There is a good vegetarian selection with interesting dishes such as brie and broccoli pithivier, as well as a children’s menu.

■ Paula’s at the House of Farnell The Old School, Farnell, Brechin 01674 820717, houseoffarnell.co.uk Mon–Sun 10am–4.30pm until late Aug.

Café re-opens for Christmas Fayre, which runs from late Sep to mid Dec.

With its beautiful décor, the House of Farnell is a Danish-style treasure trove of wonderous gifts situated just outside Brechin. The Christmas Fayre, in particular, is immensely popular with an emporium of Christmas decorations. The café is small but well laid out. If it is full you’re allowed to place your name on a waiting list and wander around the shop until a table becomes free. Alternatively, takeaway options are available. The coffee is excellent, as are the pastries.

■ The Quay Restaurant 1-4 Wharf Street, Montrose 01674 672821, thequaymontrose.co.uk Wed–Sun noon–2pm, 6–8.45pm.

Closed Mon/Tue.

Mark Smith, a former pupil of Montrose Academy, trained and worked at the Michelin-starred Andrew Fairlie restaurant at Gleneagles before opening The Quay with his wife Kerry. With a fantastic setting by Montrose harbour, they have created an impressive all-round dining experience. The restaurant is spacious and light with a contemporary feel, yet traditional table linen and place settings. Staff are friendly and willing although a degree of uncertainty about the food doesn’t do justice to the menu, which is brimming with locally sourced specialities. A daube of slow-cooked beef shoulder is a firm favourite and a great amount of time is obviously given to the presentation of dishes such as a Gourdon smoked salmon starter. Traditional Scottish puddings such as cranachan feature on the menu along with popular chocolate brownies.

■ Rosie’s Bakehouse 26 High Street, Brechin 01356 625254 Mon–Sat 9am–4.30pm. Closed Sun.

Rosie is one of those people who is utterly passionate about food. After 18 years in the music industry and a spell in financial services, she is finally doing what she loves. She makes everything on

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site – almost all with local ingredients, some of which she grows herself.

Customers bring in home-grown produce such as rhubarb which she will turn into jam. The main menu is simple enough with breakfast items, sandwiches, soup and quiche for lunch. However, there is a specials board where Rosie showcases her talents with what she feels like cooking that day. She is open to catering requests and has made spectacular birthday cakes for regulars. Special diets are catered for, with her gluten-free carrot cake being a particular favourite. She opens on the third Sunday of the month for brunch.

FORFAR, KIRRIEMUIR AND THE GLENS ■ The Auld Surgery Tearoom 17 Bank Street, Kirriemuir 07840 392005 Mon/Tue & Thu–Sat 10am–5pm.

Closed Wed & Sun.

If you’re looking for a light lunch, such as a panini or a baked potato and a tasty cake to follow, then the Auld Surgery in the centre of Kirriemuir is a good place to pitch up. Although they might struggle to seat groups larger than four, there are two attractive outside tables – a rare option in these parts. Within is a tiny gift shop stocking scented candles and a line of painted furniture.

■ Chapelbank Hotel 69 East High Street, Forfar 01307 463151, chapelbankhotel.co.uk Mon–Sat 9am–8.45pm; Sun 9am– 7.30pm.

Chapelbank Hotel in Forfar describes itself as a boutique hotel and offers, in local terms at least, a stylish bed for the night with bedrooms of a high standard and attractive mod-cons including WiFi and wide-screen telly. The restaurant takes a contemporary approach with goats cheese and red pepper tart and Thai-style West coast mussels. Set lunch menus (at £7.95 for two courses), early dining deals and al fresco eating add to the appeal.

■ The Drovers Inn Memus, By Forfar 01307 860322, the-drovers.com Mon–Thu 11am–11pm; Fri/Sat 11am– midnight; Sun 12.30pm–10pm.

‘With a passion for using the finest, locally sourced seasonal ingredients, our aim is to deliver simple dishes with exceptional flavours, cooked to perfection,’ reads the rather grandiose claim on the front of the menu. However, the Drovers does by and large deliver on it. Set in beautiful rolling Angus countryside, this place could best be described as an urban chic take on a cosy country pub. There has clearly been a lot of time and effort put into the stylish feel of the place and some might find the pared-back design a bit too cool. It doesn’t stop the locals and their dogs propping up the bar, however, and the staff are delightfully friendly and welcoming. As for the food, head chef, Eden Sinclair is right to be proud. There is a mouthwatering selection of dishes including venison steak, spinach and ricotta ravioli, delicately cooked hake and juicy, rich sirloin. There may be a bit of a wait for orders but with food cooked on the spot from fresh ingredients, it is well worth the time. See Chef’s Choice panel, right.

■ 88 Degrees Fine Food Emporium • 17 High Street, Kirriemuir 01575 570888 Wed–Fri 9.30am–5pm; Sat 9.30am– 4pm; Sun 10am–4pm. Closed Mon/Tue. • 11 West High Street, Forfar 07758 558121 Mon–Tue 9am–3pm; Wed–Sat 9am– 4pm; Sun 10am–4pm

The name 88 Degrees was chosen by owners Philip and his wife Johanna, because it is the perfect temperature of espresso, and with their own specially roasted blend of coffee, they clearly take it very seriously. The Forfar branch is a very small venue on a busy street, however, and although a great place for a light lunch or a really good cup of coffee,

CHEF’S CHOICE EDEN SINCLAIR ON GLENOGIL ESTATE GAME

‘Glenogil Estate’s owner also owns the Drovers Inn, which is a chef’s dream.

Having as much game as we want means we can experiment with different recipes and methods of cooking.

I’m hoping to open people’s eyes to how good game is.

Customers can be a bit scared of ordering it, so we put it with something familiar, and keep the recipes nice and simple – you don’t need to mess around with such good ingredients.

At the moment roe deer is on the menu as steaks with chargrilled venison liver, and of the hundreds we’ve sold only one person has asked for it without the liver.

We were recently awarded our first AA rosette after inspectors tried that dish, which was good enough feedback for me.’

■ Eden Sinclair is head chef at The Drovers Inn, Memus (see entry left) The Angus Larder 37

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it’s not so good for bigger numbers or busy children. As well as serving up delicious quiches, cheeses and salads, you can also buy Serrano ham specially carved for you off the bone – a real treat.

See entry on p.28 for more.

■ Finavon Hotel and Café Glen Clova Hotel

Finavon, Forfar 01307 850234, finavonhotel.co.uk Café: Mon–Sun 7.30am–5.30pm. Bar/ restaurant: Mon–Sun noon–9pm.

David Howatson, the owner of the Finavon Hotel, was a farmer before going into the hotel trade and grows as much of the hotel’s fruit and vegetables in his own walled garden as he can.

Other ingredients are sourced in Angus, and across the menus available in the separate café and bar-restaurant are dishes to appeal to all tastes. All the sandwiches are freshly made to order, and the café staff will gladly rustle up a tasty bacon roll and coffee for passing motorists.

■ Glen Clova Hotel Glen Clova 01575 550350, clova.com Mon–Sun noon–8pm.

The Glen Clova hotel is not only in a spectacular spot, a long way up one of the beguiling Angus Glens, but in terms of food, it makes the most of its wonderful rural location. From field or hill to plate, many of their ingredients are locally sourced, much of it from the owner’s own farm. Steak pie, venison casserole, juicy steaks, home-made pâté and chutneys are all made from scratch.

With a bistro, a conservatory dining room for families and a cosy climbers’ bar for those just off the hill, it’s an attractive destination for a whole range of people.

■ Glenesk Retreat Tarfside, Glenesk 01356 648070, gleneskretreat.co.uk Mon–Sun noon–6pm (generally closed in winter months, depending on volunteer staffing).

See entry on p.34

■ Murton Farm Tearoom Arbroath Road, Forfar 01307 466041, murtonwildlife.org.uk Mon & Wed–Sun 10am–4pm. Closed Tue.

The owners of this farm tearoom like to describe themselves as providing ‘windpowered food’ as all their power comes from an on-site windmill. They cook and bake all their light lunches in their kitchen behind the counter and, with a visitor’s farm, they welcome children with open arms.

■ Peel Farm Coffee Shop Lintrathen, Kirriemuir 01575 560205, peelfarm.com Mon–Sun 10am–5pm. Jan/Feb open weekends only.

The original business at Peel, set up 30 years ago by Frances Fleming, the coffee shop retains its country kitchen feel with flagstone floors, walls busy with local pictures and wartime-style notices, and a menu packed with traditional lunchtime favourites and generously sized cakes. These are all made on site each day, along with soup, bread and a new line in ‘Peel Pies’, which can have either savoury or sweet fillings including local venison, beef and vegetables.

Look out for more from The Little Pie Company brand, operating out of Peel, later in 2012 and beyond. While it’s clearly a run-in-the-country sort of place appealing mostly to an older clientele, there’s a climbing frame and farm animals for the kids, and an easy mile-long walk along to the Reekie Linn waterfall.

■ Queen Street Tavern 45–53 Queen Street, Forfar 01307 462722 Mon–Thu noon–2.30pm; Fri/Sat noon-2.30pm, 5pm–midnight; Sun 1–6.30pm

There are some people in Forfar who say there is only one place to get a meat pie if you want the best in town and that is at the Queen Street Tavern. Famous for much-praised home-made steak pie, this very traditional pub has been opening its

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doors since the 1900s and is still a big draw for the locals.

■ Springers Coffee Lounge 93–97 Castle Street, Forfar 07541 442556, forfarcafe.com Mon–Sat 9am–4pm. Closed Sun.

Springers is quite an unexpected find in the centre of Forfar. Damien Bailey and his partner Nigel have worked hard to create a pleasant deli-bistro in what are fairly cramped conditions. The pair clearly have an interest in good food and are proud of their selection of carefully sourced French and Scottish cheeses, but possibly let the side down slightly by using supermarket bread. Damien has also followed his passion for home-made chocolates with his delicious signature creation of raspberry and wasabi, and the equally delightful geranium and tangerine – a rather lovely way to finish off the meal. Although mainly a lunch and coffee venue, one Saturday a month Springers branches out into an adventurous six-course evening menu consisting of delightful-sounding dishes such as roast pork on a bed of bubble and squeak, home-made herby Yorkshire pudding with a red wine jus, and a dessert trio of panna cotta, raspberry tiramisù and Madagascan vanilla ice-cream. But if you’re just interested in a decent cup of coffee and a friendly atmosphere then Springers can provide that too.

■ 10 Café Bar The Cross, Forfar 01307 463004 Mon–Thu 11am–midnight; Fri/Sat 9.30am–1am; Sun 12.30pm–midnight.

Alan and Caroline Hampton opened their 10 Downing Street bar on, naturally, 10 October 2010. From the royal crest in the fireplace, reclaimed from Harrods, to the loos marked ‘Thatcher’ and ‘Churchill’, they’ve taken a theme and run the distance with it, having a lot of fun on the way. If the decor’s light-hearted, they’re serious about the drinks: imaginative spirits include Bloom gin and Aivy vodka.

They also do coffee and cakes, for those without Churchill’s capacity for a dram.

■ Trumperton Forge Tearoom Letham, Forfar 01307 818325 Tue–Sun noon–5pm. Closed Mon. Closed Oct–Easter.

This tearoom is a good venue for children as it provides well cooked, home-grown, simple food in a fantastic rural location with a designated children’s play area.

There are also goats, donkeys, ducks and hens to visit and a small selection of local crafts for sale.

ARBROATH AND AROUND

■ The Stag

■ But ‘n’ Ben

142–144 Castle Street, Forfar 01307 468564, thestagforfar.co.uk Café: Mon–Sat 9am–4.30pm; Sun 11am–4pm. Bar: Mon–Sat noon– 2.30pm, 5–9pm; Sun 12.30–7.30pm.

Ethie Street, Auchmithie, by Arbroath 01241 877223, butnbenauchmithie.co.uk Mon & Wed–Sat noon–2pm, 6–9pm; Sun noon–2pm, high tea: 4–6.30pm.

Closed Tue.

The owner of the Stag was a farmer before he went into the restaurant trade and he prides himself in growing as much of the restaurant’s fruit and vegetables and salad as possible. The Stag café is upstairs and has been recently renovated, giving it a pleasant open feel. If you want a freshly prepared light lunch using some extremely local ingredients then this is a worthwhile stopping point.

Set in the old fishing village of Auchmithie in a long low cottage, this second-generation family-run restaurant has been a popular place with locals and visitors since it began in 1975, especially after a bracing walk along the sea cliffs.

The successful formula of seafood, beef and game presented either very simply or in hearty rich sauces has held its appeal over the years, as has the sweets trolley

CHEF’S CHOICE ANGUS HORN ON ARBROATH SMOKIES

‘We get our smokies from Alex Spink. The perfect smokie is fresh when you open it up, juicy and moist, not dried up like other smoked fish can be.

We usually cook the fish nice and simply with butter under the grill, or make smokie pancakes by mixing the fish with a cream sauce and folding it into a pancake. We also have smokie soup on every day.

Chefs around here don’t cook with them that much; I’m often surprised how little they’re used.

All the cottages in Auchmithie used to smoke their own. I’m not from Auchmithie originally, but my mother and grandmother were born in the village and I can still remember the very last man smoking when I was a teenager. I’ll always feel that connection.’

■ Angus Horn is head chef at the But ‘n’ Ben in Auchmithie (see entry left).

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Rosie’s Bakehouse, Brechin

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on which there are various assortments of traditional fruit pies, fruit salads or cakes.

The oysters and lobsters (when available) are always good, presented with plenty of lemon, and a green salad. In winter the Arbroath smokie soup and game pie with plentiful seasonal vegetables fills that craving for comfort food. It can be a little cramped and the décor is unpretentious with plain wooden tables and chairs, though there is a comfortable area by the bar for pre- or post-dinner drinks.

The chef, Angus Horn, cooks with local seafood whenever possible, and sources his game and beef from Dundee. See also panel on p.39.

■ Cairnie Chip Shop 20 Cairnie Street, Arbroath 01241 878220 Tue–Fri 4–8pm; Sat 4–7pm. Closed Sun/Mon.

This family-run business, passed down from father to son, has served the local community with delicious haddock and chips for over 50 years. The cooking is done in beef dripping, and the batter is crisp and light, enveloping fish that is consistently fresh. The owners pride themselves on being a traditional chippie serving up food that is freshly cooked to order. A community noticeboard makes for interesting reading while you wait but, although very popular, the shop is well organised and the wait is never too long.

■ Catardi’s 21 Commerce Street, Arbroath 01241 877233 Mon–Sat 10am–4pm. Closed Sun.

This daytime spot offers simple but good Italian food cooked by Francesca Catardi.

There are pasta dishes, such as lobster ravioli, that change daily. The soups are filling, try the excellent bean soup if it is available, which comes thick and tasty.

Perhaps the most appealing aspect of the café-bistro is its unassuming nature and pleasant environment – it’s ideal as a spot to peruse the local comings and goings while enjoying an espresso and a homemade cake.

■ The Corn Kist Coffee House Milton Haugh Farm, Carmyllie, By Arbroath 01241 860579, miltonhaugh.com Mon–Sun 10am–4pm.

Located alongside the Milton Haugh Farm Shop, serving lunch staples, coffee and cakes. See main entry on p.32 for more details.

■ Darling’s Coffee Shop 134 High Street, Arbroath 01241 238375 Mon–Sat 10am–4pm. Closed Sun.

A fledgling social enterprise in the heart of Arbroath, Darling’s is managed by Enable Scotland and funded by The Big Lottery. The coffee shop doubles as a training centre for adults with learning difficulties, who are taught over 16 weeks to prepare and cook food as well as working front of house, learning skills that will set them up for employment elsewhere. Light lunches made with local ingredients are served, as well as hot rolls from 10am to 11am, and home-made cakes with tea and coffee all day.

■ Gordon’s Restaurant Main Street, Inverkeilor, by Arbroath 01241 830364, gordonsrestaurant.co.uk Wed–Fri 12.30–1.30pm, 7–8.30pm; Tue & Sat 7–8.30pm; Sun 12.30– 1.30pm. Closed Mon.

Over 25 years the family team of Gordon Watson, wife Maria and son Garry have built a reputation for good food. In spite of the unprepossessing exterior, inside is reminiscent of a Provençal restaurant with dragged ochre walls and dark beams. The scene is set with a wood-burning stove, and spacious tables with proper white tablecloths. Separate set menus cover both lunch and dinner, giving a small choice of dishes with inventive combinations. Seafood, beef, lamb and game are centre stage with the menu changing often, featuring the likes of boneless quail stuffed with Stornoway

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black pudding and puy lentils, or a double-baked soufflé of Tobermory cheese for starters. Mains again play with different flavours, such as panfried hake fillet with a subtly spiced couscous, crispy pak choi and spring onion tempura with a coriander and curry dressing, while roast duck comes with rich cabbage cider fondant and a peppered honey jus. The cheeseboard reflects the strength of Scottish artisan cheese, and desserts are light and intense. The wine list includes many from the New World. This is a place for serious food appreciation with everything cooked, presented and served with care. See also panel, right.

■ Harbourside Grill 61 Ladybridge Street, Arbroath 01241 878104, harboursidegrill. co.uk Tue–Sat noon–2pm, 5–9.30pm; Sun noon–8pm. Closed Mon.

Opened in 2012, this restaurant specialises in seafood and steaks and uses quality ingredients. The space is well lit, decorated in off-white with comfortable blue chairs, natural wood floors and tables. In the bar area, coffee and tea and cakes are served. On the stairs to the main dining area the wall is covered in panels from fish-packing boxes stamped with local fishing names and colourful fish wallpaper lights up the downstairs party room. The menus are inventive and flexible with an emphasis on local ingredients: the lobster is landed in the harbour here.

The menu changes every day with meal combinations to suit most appetites, timings and wallets. So you can have a one-course lunch such as mussels and chips with a glass of wine or go for something more lavish – steak with all the trimmings and sticky toffee pudding. One of the regular dishes is a fillet of three types of fresh fish, combined with seasonal vegetables.

The service is attentive, the wine list extensive, a nice touch is the tap water in chilled bottles (a small charge for this goes to charity). See also panel on p.31.

■ Lunan Farm Shop and Café Lunan Farm, Lunan Bay, Arbroath 01241 830506 Mon–Sun 9am–5pm.

A small farm shop has been open here for a few years but a smart new outlet and café opened closer to the car park at the picturesque Lunan Bay in June 2012.

The pork you can buy here is reared freerange on Lunan Farm, sold along with the eggs from their free-range chickens. The shop also stocks dry goods, preserves, honey, biscuits and local vegetables and fruit. The café serves up bacon rolls, coffee and tea, soups, sandwiches and home-made cakes as well as a hot special at lunchtime, with all food sourced as locally as possible.

■ The Old Boatyard Fishmarket Quay, Arbroath 01241 879995, oldboatyard.co.uk Mon–Sun 10.30am–8.30pm.

The interior of this seafood restaurant is light and airy with a white panelled ceiling reminiscent of a boat, and nautical decorations add to the salty vibe. The decked area is reached through the restaurant and overlooks the open sea and harbour. There is a good-value lunch menu with starters such as crab and coriander tart, and haddock and chips for main course. Lighter meals and sandwiches, cakes, tea and coffee are available during the day. The evening menu is mainly fish with dishes such as bouillabaisse, paella and pan-fried fish, although steak, chicken, duck and pasta dishes make an appearance. Desserts include tiramisù, fruit tart, and homemade ice-cream sundaes.

■ Smithies Deli 16 Keptie Street, Arbroath 01241 873344, smithiesdeli.co.uk Mon–Sat 9.30am–4.15am. Closed Sun.

Open since 2000, this deli and café is often busy with customers who come for its great choice of cheeses, including Anster, the savoury biscuits and its array of dry goods, gins and other alcohol. The food served is always delicious, with

CHEF’S CHOICE GARRY WATSON ON WILD GARLIC

‘From early April to early June is wild garlic season. We’re spoilt for it around here; it grows in great big areas across anywhere damp.

My dad got me into foraging, but it’s also easy to cultivate, and I now grow it in the restaurant kitchen garden. I use it raw in salads, wilted in butter with fish, or when the white flowers come through later they can be run through bread dough to give it a light garlic flavour.

Because it’s so good in season, you don’t want to try and force it when it’s gone. The wild garlic season is an exciting time for a chef because you know that after the constraints of winter you’ll soon get an abundance of fresh ingredients like asparagus and samphire.’

■ Garry Watson is head chef at Gordon’s Restaurant in Inverkeilor (see p.40).

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the home-made cakes a real draw. Once a month it opens in the evenings with a featured menu prepared by a guest chef.

Originally a Thomas Lipton grocery shop, the interior is very special with original tiles forming a graceful pattern of thistles and shamrocks – representing Lipton’s Irish ancestry and his Scottish upbringing.

Springers Coffee Lounge, Forfar

CARNOUSTIE, MONIFIETH AND AROUND ■ Café Byzantium Monikie Country Park, Monikie 01382 370970, byzantiumcafe.co.uk Thu 11.30am–5.30pm; Fri-Sun 11.30am–9.30pm. Closed Mon–Wed.

In an original low stone building in the pretty Monikie Country Park, the recently refurbished Café Byzantium serves a light lunch menu and a fuller à la carte evening menu on weekend nights. There is plenty of outdoor seating and whether enjoying a coffee or ice-cream, panini or Greek salad and hummus, it is a nice place to sit and watch dog walkers and young families go by. The evening menu reflects more of the owner/chef’s Mediterranean heritage with a wonderful mix of Greekinspired seafood, meat and veggie dishes including iskenderoni (chargrilled supreme of chicken, lamb kofte and thin-sliced minute steak topped with Greek yogurt and Byzantium sauce) and melanzana (stuffed aubergine). There’s also a range of pizzas at lunchtime and in the evening.

■ The Coffee Pot 27 High Street, Monifieth 01382 533134 Mon–Sat 9.30am–4.30pm. Closed Sun.

Sister café to the Laird’s Larder down the road, the Coffee Pot serves a range of sandwiches, panini, soup and fresh baking to eat in or take away. From the street it doesn’t look like much, but this café is fairly capacious and it has more space for prams, consequently

drawing a younger crowd – though not exclusively. It is also popular for takeaways. There are shelves of oldfashioned sweeties and a small selection of gifts as well.

■ The Craigton Coach Inn Craigton of Monikie, Nr Monifeith 01382 370223, craigtoncoachinn.co.uk Tue–Thu noon–2pm, 5–8pm; Fri noon–2pm, 5–8.30pm; Sat noon– 2.30pm, 5–8.30pm; Sun noon–2.30, 5–7.30pm. Closed Mon.

While slightly gloomy on first impression, the Craigton Coach Inn serves freshly made pub food and is popular locally. There is a small bar with an open fire, and next door is a small restaurant where most meals are served.

The extensive menu includes pub staples such as steak pie, lasagne and scampi, as well as the likes of the Coachie smokie – smoked haddock in a creamy sauce – and Craigton chicken, stuffed with black pudding and apple. Meat and fish is sourced locally. Look out for good mid-week deals and occasional live entertainment and comedy nights.

■ The Granary 8 Queen Street, Carnoustie 01241 855272, thegranarycarnoustie.com Mon–Fri 8.30am–5.30pm; Sat 8.30am–5pm. Closed Sun.

Offering freshly made hot and cold food to take away, the friendly, family-owned Granary is a stalwart of the Carnoustie food scene. Run by a brother and sister, and their father before them, the counters are filled with freshly baked pies, macaroni cheese and similar warming dishes, as well as salads and sandwiches. Their mother’s carrot cake, which has a loyal local following, is delivered still-warm each morning.

Other items include local honey and Mrs Bridges jams, Scottish biscuits, oils and dressings, baking ingredients, and spices by the gram. They also run the small Tee Hut on Carnoustie Links, selling hot drinks, sandwiches and pies.

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■ The Lairds Larder 79 High Street, Monifieth 01382 534092 Mon–Sat 9.30am–4.30pm. Closed Sun.

The Laird’s Larder is the realisation of a dream for two friends who wanted to create their perfect tearoom – with good, tasty home baking, old-fashioned favourites on the menu, and a clean, fresh and appealing ambience. This cheery tearoom encompasses all of this, with simple furnishings and bright paintings on the walls (by local artist and the proprietor’s father Gordon Laird), a table laden with fresh baking and a changing blackboard menu using local and seasonal ingredients. As well as a regular menu of filled rolls and baked potatoes, they have two freshly made soups a day and hot specials such as quiche or haddock and chips. Although not for everyone, old classics like herring and oatmeal or liver, bacon and onions are a local hit, as are their pancakes.

■ Milton Inn Grange Road, Monifieth 01382 532620, themiltoninn.co.uk Tue–Fri noon–2pm, 5–9pm; Sat noon–9pm; Sun noon–8pm.

In a leafy residential part of Monifieth, The Milton Inn is a spacious contemporary pub with warm red walls and open log fires on cooler days, and a wonderful tiered terrace and big beer garden for when the sun shines.

Owned by the same couple who ran The Taychreggan in Broughty Ferry, the service from the young staff is excellent, both friendly and efficient, reflecting what seems to be a happy team. The menu is varied, covering the usual pub favourites from fish and chips to roasts, as well as the likes of goats’ cheese and tomato salad and chargrilled oriental duck, in addition to daily specials. The dishes are made inhouse and include plenty of locally sourced ingredients.

The bar stocks a range of Scottish real ales, periodically including Angus Ales and ales from the new MòR brewery at Kellas, a full complement of Angus whiskies and a good wine list. The inn

also has a small private dining room for up to ten and four overnight rooms.

■ The Pear Tree Restaurant

CHEF’S CHOICE GEORGE MARSHALL ON ABERDEEN ANGUS BEEF

Burnhead Farm, Auchterhouse 01382 320266, peartreerestaurant.co.uk Tue–Sat 10am–8pm; Sun noon–8pm.

Closed Mon.

Set in a log cabin in the grounds of Auchterhouse Country Sports, the Pear Tree is an informal restaurant offering freshly cooked pub staples from late breakfast onwards. The manager, a chef by trade, takes great pride in his freshly battered fish and traditionally cooked steak pies. While other options on the menu include steaks, Grannie’s macaroni cheese, game terrine and freshly prepared salads. The blackboard boasts a list of local suppliers as well as naming a product of the week and the farm it came from, which may guide your menu choice.

High teas are the bestseller, coming in half or full portions (as do some of the lunch dishes), and include petits fours.

There’s a children’s menu and a takeaway service for the most popular dishes. There is also an ever-expanding top shelf of Scottish whiskies and a wide selection of bottled Scottish ales.

■ The Room with a View Restaurant & Bar Piperdam Golf & Leisure Resort, Piperdam, Fowlis 01382 581374, piperdam.com Mon–Fri noon–2.30pm, 5pm–9pm; Sat noon–9pm; Sun noon–8pm.

Part of the Piperdam leisure complex, which includes golf, archery and selfcatering lodges, the Room with a View Restaurant, as its names suggests, enjoys a wonderful view over the loch and golf course through its panoramic windows.

The emphasis is on informal and family dining, and you can eat in the bar from a lighter menu or from the restaurant’s à la carte menu. There is a wide choice of dishes including pasta, curries and fajitas, and some more Scottish options using local ingredients including Arbroath smokie pâté, Balmoral venison with

‘Our beef is 99 per cent Aberdeen Angus. It’s Scottish and good – the fat is creamier and it’s hung for around 28 days.

As well as the quality of the meat, buying it promotes local beef – we write up on our board the exact farm the beef came from – and helps local development. My favourite way of using Aberdeen Angus meat is simply a beautiful rib eye steak, done medium rare, with salt, pepper and a tomato so you get the taste of the beef itself. We also use diced shoulder for our famous steak pies.

Customers comment on the locality of it all the time – farmers come in to taste another farm’s beef, there’s a bit of rivalry about it. We buy through the Forfar Mart. We’ve had beef from the field 100 metres from our restaurant door.’

■ George Marshall is head chef of the Pear Tree Restaurant (see entry left ).

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raspberry vinegar and bitter chocolate sauce and Aberdeen Angus steaks. There is also a children’s menu as well as a lighter bar menu. There are tables outside and a children’s outdoor play park close by.

■ The Speckled Hen Newbigging Farm, Tealing 01382 380255 Mon–Sat 9am–4.30pm; Sun 10am– 4.30pm.

A short hop off the A90 between Forfar and Dundee, the Speckled Hen is a café and shop selling the farm’s own and other local berries, vegetables and eggs.

The café has some outdoor seating, and serves bacon rolls, their home-made steak bridies, buffalo burgers, sandwiches and a variety of fresh home baking. The shop also sells its own jams, beef from Grants of Dundee, milk and cream from Forfar’s North Street Dairy, and Scottish cheese, honey and oatcakes. Hen-themed pottery, books, knitting wool and eco bags fill other shelves, and there is a plant nursery next door.

■ The Waterside Restaurant Forbes of Kingennie, Broughty Ferry 01382 350777, forbesofkingennie.com Mon-Sun 9am–8.45pm.

Part of a country resort with fishing and golf, the restaurant at Forbes of Kingennie is airy and informal. Fresh and contemporarily decorated, it has an impressive aquarium and views over one of the fishing pools, and the pub next door is often screening live sport. As well as lunch and dinner, it serves breakfast and popular high teas. The à la carte menu has a nice mix of staples – haddock and chips, burgers, and steak and red wine pie – and their own creations (many using local ingredients) such as mousseline of chicken and Forbes sweet pea risotto and poached Tay salmon salad. There is some outdoor seating.

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Picnic spots

Edzell Castle Gardens

■ Corrie Fee, Glen Clova OS grid NO284760

Corrie Fee National Nature Reserve is a dramatic amphitheatre cut from the earth by a glacier. A good path leads from the Glen Doll car park (a small charge applies) on a gentle walk to a viewpoint of the corrie. Picnic here, then you can take lighter bags on the steeper route to the waterfall at the back, possibly seeing golden eagles on the way. nnr-scotland.org.uk

■ Loch of Kinnordy OS grid NO3554

One for twitchers, ospreys are a regular summer visitor – look out for them from the three hides. The loch is a nature reserve run by the RSPB, open daily from dawn to dusk. A car park and bike rack are available, or a footpath connects the Loch to Kirriemuir, 1.25 miles away. rspb.org.uk/reserves

■ Reekie Linn Falls OS grid NO2553

One of Scotland’s finest waterfalls (the name means ‘smoking pool’), surrounded by woodland. A car park and picnic site are about 200m away from the falls, next to the River Isla on the B954, then the path to the waterfall follows the rim of a deep gorge with an unprotected 150ft/45m drop – it’s unfenced, so take care with children.

■ Lunan Bay OS grid NO6951

Three miles of strawberry blonde sand backed by large dunes, Lunan Bay is on any list of best Scottish beaches.

Reekie Linn Falls

It’s overlooked by the ruins of Red Castle, and reputed for agate and other gemstones turning up amongst the pebbles. There’s car parking behind the dunes, and the beach is popular with horse riders and surfers.

■ St Cyrus Nature Reserve beach OS grid NO7463

Picnickers might be treated to porpoise sightings, as well as a host of seabirds nesting in the cliffs that shelter humans, flora and fauna alike. A visitor centre provides access to the beach, which comes alive with a burst of colour in summer with purple clustered bell-flowers and multitudes of butterflies. Look out for peregrine falcons.

■ The Rocks of Solitude OS grid NO5872

Right on the Highland Boundary Fault, the romantically named Rocks of Solitude is a narrow gorge, through which the North Esk river plunges, occasionally in impressive waterfalls. Most visitors park in picturesque Edzell then take a path from there that follows the river upstream. At the right time of year salmon can be seen leaping up their ladder.

■ Edzell Castle OS grid NO585691

Edzell Castle, now ruined, dates from the early 16th century. Once owned by the Lindsays, now by Historic Scotland, the finest feature is the wonderful walled garden, added in 1604 and recreated in the 1930s. Unique in Europe, the original, most intriguing feature, remains intact: four walls carved with intricate allegorical panels.

Admission prices apply, and there’s a picnic area. historic-scotland.gov.uk

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Farmers’ Markets

list.co.uk

Angus farmers’ markets FIRST SATURDAY OF EACH MONTH Montrose Montrose High Street

SECOND SATURDAY OF EACH MONTH Forfar Strathmore Hall, John Street

Markets Mark Ma rket etss ru run n 9a 9am 9am–1pm; m–1p 1pm m; an angu angusfarmersmarket.co.uk gusf sfar arme mers rsma mark rket et.c .co. o.uk uk

FESTIVALS ■ The Angus Show

■ Arbroath Seafest

theangusshow.com

arbroathseafest.co.uk

Two weekends before the Highland Show, 7 and 8 June in 2013, is the sizeable Angus Show, an agricultural show held at Brechin Castle. Visitors can expect all the traditional events, including sheep shearing, show-jumping and a dog show.

■ The Kirriemuir Show kirriemuir-show.co.uk

An annual agricultural show held the first weekend after the 12th of the month (14 July in 2012), go for home baking competitions, trade stands, a craft fair and pipe band.

■ Scotland’s Countryside Festival, Glamis Castle scotlandscountrysidefestival.co.uk

A popular family-run festival packed with wacky entertainment and activities including archery, ferret racing and hawkflying. A local food hall features the likes of The Devenick Dairy, Cairn O’Mhor wines and Caithness Cheese. Held on the last weekend in July, there are also poultry and bee-keeping experts on hand.

A festival of the sea and Arbroath’s maritime heritage held on the seafront, Seafest has run since 1997. Annual dates change according to the high tide, in 2012 it’s the 4th and 5th of August. There are fishing displays, music, craft and food stalls including a Smokie Trail.

■ Glen Clova Beer Festival clova.com/clova-hotel-beer-festival.cfm

Ales and ciders from Scotland and the wider UK. Generally held on the third weekend in July, 20 to 22 in 2012, there’s live music all weekend, a barbecue on Saturday and a hog roast on Sunday.

Camping is available.

■ A Taste of Angus Festival angusahead.com/atasteofangus

A Taste of Angus festival is a new event running from 1 to 8 September 2012. It brings together the best of Angus food and producers with food-themed events, farmers’ markets, competitions, cookery demonstrations and restaurants featuring special menus taking place across Angus.

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Index

Index Aberdeen Angus 8, 9, 43 Aberfeldy Oatmeal 21, 22, 23 AH & HA Pattullo 16, 17, 27 Alex Spink and Sons 7, 23, 30 All Seasons Farm Shop 27 Angus Ales 19, 23 Angus Cereals 12 Angus Orchards Project 15, 22 Angus Show 46 Angus Soft Fruits 13, 22 apples 15 Arbroath Fisheries 23, 30 Arbroath Seafest 46 Arbroath smokies 6, 31 Arbroath Smokies Direct 23, 30 asparagus 16 Auchmithie 6, 7 Auld Surgery Tearoom, The 37 barley 12 Barry Mill 29 beef 8, 9, 43 Bel’s Butchers 9, 26 berries 12, 13 Bouvrage 13 Bradley, David 31 Braes of Coul Farm Shop 22, 27 Brechin 13, 20 Brechin Castle Garden Centre Café 34 bridies 10 Bruce Brymer Family Butcher 26 But ‘n’ Ben 39 Café Byzantium 42 Cairnie Chip Shop, The 40 Cakes by Grace 23 Carnoustie Country Larder, The 33 Carnoustie golf 19 Catardi’s 40 CG Fleming 31 Chapelbank Hotel 37 Charleton Fruit Farm 22, 26, 34 Coffee Pot, The 42 cold smoking 7 Conacher, Fred 15 Corn Kist Coffee House, The 40 Corrie Fee 45 Craigton Coach Inn, The 42 D Spink Fishmongers 7, 23, 31 D&A Kennedy 28 Damien Bailey, Artisan chocolatier 23 Darlings Coffee Shop 40 DH Robertson 31 Drovers Inn, The 37 Dundee 20 E&O Fish 7, 30 Eassie Farm 16, 17, 22, 27 Edzell 9, 23 Edzell Blue potatoes 23 Edzell Castle 45

88 Degrees Fine Food Emporium 23, 28, 37 Ella Drinks Ltd 13, 23 Fairlie House 22 farmers’ markets 46 Ferguson, Bruce 12 Finavon Hotel and Café 38 Fit o’ the Toon 6, 7 Forbes of Kingennie see The Waterside Restaurant Forfar 9, 10, 33 Forfar Country Park 22 Forfar Mart 33 Glamis Castle 15 Glen Clova 38, 45 Glen Clova Hotel 38 Glen Cova Beer Festival 46 Glen Doll 45 Glencadam Distillery 19, 23 Glenesk Retreat 34, 38 Glenogil Estate 22, 37 Gordon’s Restaurant 40, 41 Granary, The 42 Granite City Fish Co Ltd 28 haddock 7, 31 Harbourside Grill 31, 41 honey 21 Honeyhill Bee Farm 21 Horn, Angus 39 Hospitalfield Organic Produce Enterprise 18, 22, 31 hot smoking 7 Iain R Spink Original Smokies from Arbroath 7, 23, 31 IC Fruit Company 26, 28, 31 Isabella’s Preserves 21, 22 jam 20, 21 James Ewart Ltd 9, 33 James Hutton Institute 12 James McLaren and Son 10, 23, 28 James Pirie & Son 29 JM Bakery 23, 33 Keiller, James & Janet 20 Keyser, Silla 23 Kingston Farm 8, 22 Kirrimuir Show 46 Laird’s Larder, The 43 Lawson, Alan 19 Links Hotel 34 Loch of Kinnordy 45 Lunan Bay 45 Lunan Farm Shop and Café 22, 32, 41 M&M Smith 7, 23, 32 M&M Spink 7, 23, 32 MacDonalds Brothers 9 Mackays Ltd 20, 21, 22, 32 Madison’s 36 map 24–25 marmalade 20, 21 Marshall, George 43 Milton Haugh Farm Shop 22, 32

Milton Inn, The 43 Monikie Country Park 22 MòR Brewing 19, 23 Mrs Bridges 20, 21, 22, 23 Mum’s of Montrose Tea Rooms 36 Murton Farm Tearoom 38 Myles, Louise 21 Myreside Organics 22 Nature’s Garden 26 Norma’s Homemade Preserves 20, 22 North Street Dairy 23, 28 Northern Hotel 36 Old Boatyard, The 41 orchards 15 Paula’s at the House of Farnell 36 Pear Tree Restaurant, The 43 Peel Farm Courtyard, Farm Shop and Coffee Shop 22, 29, 38 picnic spots 45 potatoes 23 preserves 20, 21 Pullar, David 14 Quay Restaurant, The 36 Queen Street Tavern 38 Reekie Linn Falls 45 Rennie’s the Butcher 29 Rocks of Solitude 45 Room with a View Restaurant & Bar 43 Rosie’s Bakehouse 36 Saddler’s of Forfar 10, 23, 29 salmon 14 Scarlett’s Scotland 21 Scotland’s Countryside Festival 46 Scott brothers 7 sea kale 17 Sinclair, Eden 37 Small’s Confectionary 29 Smithies Deli 32, 41 Soutar, Geordie 9 South Esk River 14 South Powrie Farm 22 Speckled Hen, The 33, 44 Springers Coffee Lounge 39 St Cyrus Nature Reserve 45 Stag, The 39 Star Rock Shop, The 30 Storm Cakes 23 Sugar and Spice 23, 32 10 Cafe Bar 39 Trumperton Forge Tearoom 39 Usan 14 Usan Salmon Fisheries 14, 23 Visocchi’s Café 23, 30 Waterside Restaurant, The 44 Watson, Garry 41 Watt the Butcher Ltd 26 whisky 12, 19 William Spink 7 The Angus Larder 47

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Angus g Larder

Name section

list.co.uk

DE TO ANGUS’ FOOD & DRINK

From the heathery hills of the beguiling Angus Glens to the fertile fields of Strathmore and the beaches and sheltered harbours of the coast, Angus is a region with landscapes made for good food. With Arbroath smokies, Forfar bridies and Aberdeen Angus beef, it’s home to some of Scotland’s most distinctive produce. As well as the headliners there’s a lot more to discover and enjoy, whether you’re stocking the cupboards at home, just visiting or looking for a memorable meal.

This brand new guide to the food and drink of Angus includes: ■ the stories behind the local food of Angus ■ detailed listings of the best food shops, markets and producers ■ profiles of the people producing the region’s food: fishermen, farmers, fruit growers, brewers and others ■ Angus chefs talking about the local food that inspires them ■ an independent guide to the best places to eat

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Larder

Fife Larder SECOND EDITION

THE GUIDE TO FIFE’S FOOD & DRINK

THE GUIDE TO SCOTLAND’S FOOD AND DRINK

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THE GUIDE TO SCOTLAND’S FOOD & DRINK

FIRST EDITION

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SECOND EDITION

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