Fife Larder
21/5/10
12:23
Page 43
Where to Eat
£14 (set lunch) / £35 (set dinner)
The Orangery offers a smart, dining experience in central Fife’s premier up-scale hotel: a large carpeted room, starched tablecloths, low lighting and classy contemporary touches. The menu places emphasis on Scottish ingredients with classical continental techniques, so you’ll find Loch Duart salmon, smoked in-house, with celeriac slaw, or roast lamb with kidney and parmesan polenta. Also in the hotel is the more casual Balbirnie Bistro.
■ Room With A View Forth View Hotel, Aberdour 01383 860402, www.roomwithaviewrestaurant.co.uk Wed–Sat noon–2.30pm, 6pm onwards; Sun noon–2.30pm. Closed Mon/Tue. £15 (lunch) / £21 (dinner)
A fish restaurant situated within the Forth View Hotel at Aberdour’s craggy Hawkcraig point. A friendly, familyrun ambience pervades, with amazing views across the Forth estuary from the elegantly clad windows. Chef Tim Robson’s short menu changes weekly and offers choices such as salmon fillet poached in sweet elderberry and grape court bouillon or seabass on a bed of crab meat, shrimp and shredded pak choi.
■ Valente’s 73 Hendry Road, Kirkcaldy 01592 203600 Mon/Tue, Thu/Fri 11.30am–1.30pm & 3.45pm–11.30pm; Sat/Sun 3.45–11.30pm. Closed Wed
Tony Valente’s father first pushed his ice-cream barrow through the streets of Kirkcaldy in the early part of the last century, and now it’s widely regarded as the town’s best fish and chip takeway. Despite the queues, or perhaps because of them, locals still wait for their food to be freshly cooked to order. Ice-cream is made on the sister premises at 73 Overton Road.
■ The Waterfront Bar & Restaurant 461 High Street, Kirkcaldy 01592 202095 Wed–Mon noon–2pm, 6pm–late. Closed Tue. £10 (lunch) / £18 (dinner)
Recently built flats have rather deprived this place of its ‘Waterfront’ status, but this isn’t a place you’d come for stylish location and setting. The draw is a mainstream menu dotted with various individual touches, including game casserole, seafood stew in saffron and lemongrass cream sauce or black pudding served with home-made apple, pear and mango chutney.
With the high tide lapping at its walls, the Seafood Restaurant in St Monans (p.39) captures the East Neuk’s history and scenery superbly.
■ The Wee Restaurant 17 Main Street, North Queensferry 01383 616263, www.theweerestaurant.co.uk Mon–Sun noon–2pm, 6.30–9pm £16.75 (set lunch) / £25 (set dinner)
Wee it may be but the power house in the kitchen really lifts this place, tucked under a leg of the Forth Bridge, to a high level. Simple set menus are packed with delight: melting rabbit boudin balanced by a rich black pudding and super-fresh salad leaves, or a classic veal blanquette modernised with a delicate light sauce and home made pasta that’s a triumph of balance and wellmarried flavours. Chef Craig Wood sources well, combines ingredients with flair and cooks them briefly. One of Fife’s best.
DUNFERMLINE & WEST FIFE ■ Biscuit Café Culross Pottery, Sandhaven, Culross 01383 882176, www.culrosspottery.com Mon–Fri 10am–4pm; Sat/Sun 10am–5pm £9
Set in a small conservatory at the back of the Culross Pottery, in one of the The Fife Larder 43