Castlehill, Dundee

Like so many things in life – boiling your morning egg, initiating sex in the afternoon or calling an independence referendum in the evening – timing is axiomatic.

Never is that more true than in a restaurant, where years of eating out have taught me that a warm welcome, a comfortable chair and the offer of bread and a drink within minutes of sitting down will get the evening off to an exemplary start.

Thus to walk in the door of the newly re-opened Castlehill Restaurant in Exchange St (Dundee’s foodie enclave, dontcha know) and be greeted by the walking bonhomie spreader that is ace maître d Alasdair Clunas immediately made us feel that we were not only in safe hands but that we were about to be wrapped in an Hermes blanket of cossetting. That the snow was piling down outside and the restaurant was on the bracing side of comfort (it was their opening night) made the welcome all the more rousing.

Castlehill has just been bought by the best chef in Dundee, Adam Newth (The Tayberry) and his business partner/chef Lewis Donegan who was cooking tonight whilst Adam kept the home fires burning in the mothership in Broughty Ferry. Adam’s return to Castlehill, where he long ago forged his reputation, must surely give him a sense of the karmic influences often guiding us all in life.

The menu at Castlehill is short, punchy and markedly good. It makes total sense to keep things simple for the opening, when the kitchen and service can expect to be stretched. From a list of 5 starters I chose West coast crab and smoked salmon, pickled radish and apple snow. That the food really is the essence of The Tayberry means that I thought I had eaten a very similar dish there – but with food this good why reinvent the wheel? It was simple, distinctly flavoured, harmonious and delicious. 

David, my vegetarian friend, had roasted celeriac veloute, blue murder ravioli and Waldorf garnish. His starter suffered because texturally it was way too similar to the gorgeous amuse bouche, a soup beautifully enhanced by truffle and tonka bean. As the only vegetarian starter, the celeriac veloute was, we felt, something that was slightly odd and misjudged although it did taste pretty good.

I wasn’t drinking booze so had a pineapple and lychee based cocktail that, again, could be substituted with something a little more robust and interesting. My friend had an excellent bottle of red from a concise, well-chosen list that was competitively priced, with no horrendous mark ups. Sniffing the cork, Alasdair pronounced it very good, a genuine confidence you only really have when you know what you’re talking about. He does, and he was right. The wine was ace.

Now to the star of the show. If you go here you really need to order Lewis Donegan’s exemplary 8oz blade steak, king oyster mushrooms, truffle and parmesan butter, smoked bone marrow, pommes Mousseline. I hadn’t eaten meat all January and I cant think of a better way to break a vegetarian fast. It really was the business. Beef cooked as rare as can be, truffle and parmesan butter a joyous enhancement – and the smoked bone marrow deeply, exuberantly perfect. The whole plate of food was masterful and showed a love and respect for good ingredients and a supreme knowledge of how to put them together. A complete, harmonious delight.

The one vegetarian option – caramelised cauliflower risotto, parmesan espuma, cavolo nero again suffered from too similar a texture to what had gone before for the vegetarian. To our palates it needed the flavours ramping up; it would have been fine as a one course lunch but, as part of a whole dinner, it felt like it wasn’t really special enough and the gloopiness of the composite vegetarian offerings was off-putting. But this was their first night and I know they plan to introduce a completely separate vegetarian menu which will bring diners similar choice to the many vegetarian delights on offer at The Tayberry. And a more expansive menu will help dispel my theory that cauliflower really is the new butternut squash in terms of its ubiquity….

I must admit that the sheer delirious joy of chomping on my immaculate beef dish did make me realise I could probably never be vegetarian. Just saying!

We didn’t order dessert – not because they didn’t sound good but because we wanted to get back and check on David’s cat. He’d never seen snow, you see. And he gets lonely (the kitten, not David). But next time I would order the chocolate and Laphroaig Delice, cocoa nib, honeycomb and bee pollen, or possibly the grapefruit, chocolate, sorrel and fromage frais sorbet, both of which sound delicious. 

Cooking of this standard in Dundee is so rare – only The Tayberry really does it for me – so it’s amazing that Adam and Lewis have expanded their empire (a cooking school is also in development). Two courses here cost £29 whilst 3 are £38. To me that’s a bargain. There are no supplements, which is so refreshing especially as I would sell my granny to eat that beef again.

A 5 course tasting menu is £55 whilst the same menu with meticulous wine pairings is £35 more. Service from a very young but notably keen staff was good and will only get better. On Friday they benefitted hugely from the expertise of Alasdair Clunas who is the diamond card in any restaurant where he features. As my friend observed Alasdair nonchalantly but constantly scanning the room, he said so presciently; ‘Alasdair looks like a man who instinctively knows when the machine needs more oil’.  He’s actually just a man who knows his restaurants, his staff and his menus inside out.

Castlehill is a great addition to Dundee, a city which, despite recent hype, still suffers from a lack of truly great places to eat. These guys have been very much part of the renaissance of good food in this city where it can be notoriously and frustratingly difficult to get new business ventures going. This is despite a lot of talent and a lot of empty buildings which, in other cities, would be used – at least as pop ups. Why not here? Well that’s for another blog…

Like their sister restaurant The Tayberry this is a place to return to again and again, which I fully intend to do – not least because my office is ten doors away. A concise express lunch menu should have Dundee hammering on their door whilst dinner here will be a constant reminder that good seasonal ingredients cooked well will triumph over the experimental tourism on a plate that is so much of the dining experience offered in so many other places. If you want guaranteed great restaurant food then, quite simply, these are your go to guys.