Knockinaam Lodge is a restaurant with rooms set above its own private cove on Scotland’s south-west coast, a few miles from the seaside village of Portpatrick in Dumfries and Galloway.
The 19th-century former hunting lodge has more history than most country houses: it appears in The 39 Steps, and it’s said to be where Winston Churchill and Dwight D Eisenhower met while preparing for the D-Day landings. The restaurant looks across the lawn to the beach and the Irish Sea, bright at lunch and mood-lit come evening, with a romantic country-house feel that puts the emphasis firmly on the spectacular coastal view.
Dinner is a seven-course tasting menu that changes daily and is served at an unhurried pace. Head Chef Tyler King, formerly head chef at Michelin-starred Condita in Edinburgh, leads the kitchen. The team starts from classical French cooking and gives it a modern Scottish slant, and the menu is flexible, with guests’ preferences and dietary requirements taken into consideration when the daily menus are created. Much of the produce comes from close by: around 70% of the vegetables and herbs are grown in the hotel’s polytunnel, fed with seaweed from the cove, while meat comes from Griersons Butchers in Castle Douglas and seafood from Galloway Smokehouse. Recent menus have included gin-cured salmon, barbecued Orkney scallop with sweetcorn velouté, and roast St Bride’s duck with spiced Puy lentils, beetroot and pickled ginger.
Wine is a big draw. The cellar runs to more than 400 wines from around the world, with many available by the glass. Lunch brings a shorter three-course menu, changing regularly to make the most of seasonal Scottish produce. The Lounge serves light bites through the afternoon, and afternoon tea is available too.