Where's the Beef?
The answer has to be Champany Inn. It is a restaurant that, while dedicated to beef, has the presence of mind to offer a wide choice of alternative and supporting dishes, accompanied by a most eclectic selection of world-class wines.
It is, in short, an experience. And this is what dining out in good restaurants should be a combination of the very finest fresh produce available, perfectly prepared and professionally presented with that extra magical, mystical touch of theatre. Alas, how often are we let down by one or other of these aspects and spend an unhappy and disappointed evening. But Champany Inn is different because it is run by an absolutely dedicated husband and wife team - Clive and Anne Davidson.
The experience starts, as indeed it should, in the bar. Here you may either sit at the bar, relax in the supreme comfort of easy chairs and couches or sit upright at tables while you make those all important decisions about what you are going to eat and drink. These are best made over an apéritif, the best of which has to be a bottle of Champagne – the ideal way to prepare your taste buds for the feast that is to follow.
Your eye will surely be taken to the rock pond that forms an integral part of the bars décor. This is no mere decorative roadhouse ‘wishing well’, but a keep for glorious Loch Gruinart oysters and lobsters fresh from the Western Isles that will be fished out and prepared for those discerning diners who appreciate the cunning combination of “surf and turf.”
Lusciously plump, the Loch Gruinart oysters have the unique advantage of coming from Scotland’s only sea loch that empties at each low tide. This means that they are washed over twice a day with fresh incoming plankton off which they feed. The lobsters, meanwhile, are kept fresh so that all the full flavours of their cold Atlantic Ocean home can be retained for serving either grilled or steamed with a butter sauce.
There is no shortage of what the menu succinctly calls Starters. These include a most delicate Highland Black Pudding served with a truly delicious onion marmalade, triple smoked rump of beef dressed with single vineyard olive oil and fresh oregano, and fillet of salmon hot smoked to order over woodchips in the kitchens own smokepot.
Words almost fail me to describe the subtle excellence of the hot smoked salmon. Fleshy and succulent, it can be cut with a fork which breaks it into pungent morsels of sublime Scottish salmon warm and aromatic with a surprisingly gentle woody bouquet.
In winter the kitchens are proud of their soups which include a traditional Highland favourite with the particularly unappetising name of Cullen Skink. This is a soup made from smoked haddock. However the Stilton soup, made from award winning Colston Basset truckles of stilton and flavoured with celery, is a sure haven for the less adventurous diner.
As you walk from the bar to the restaurant you will pass a chilled counter filled with the finest selection of beef that you will ever encounter. It is from these that Clive Davidson and his team will select your choice of Sirloin, Rib Eye, T-Bone, Porterhouse, Pope’s-Eye or Chateaubriand and cut it for cooking on their specially designed charcoal grill.
Clive Davidson is proud of his meat. He selects his beef from herds of prime cattle grazing off acres of lush Aberdeenshire countryside. The carcasses are hung for a full three weeks during which all the succulent flavours that have made Scottish beef such an internationally renowned delicacy, are held and matured.
Although Scotch beef holds centre-stage at Champany Inn, the menu does offer a number of alternative dishes. These include baked chicken filled with a smoked bacon and tarragon mousse – or, for fish eaters, a choice of grilled salmon, langoustine, or a deep fried fillet of organic cod served with Champany's famous chips and Mrs H. S. Ball's chutney.
Before indulging in one of the restaurants special desserts it is well-worth sampling a wedge of their stilton. A few years ago this accidentally won an award, when the judges for a national Stilton competition were dining together at Champany Inn. Even though the Davidsons had not entered their cheese, the judges were so impressed that they awarded it first prize!
When it comes to puddings – a fine old Gallo-Roman word that describes them perfectly – then Champany’s is once more full of sweet surprises. While the main restaurant menu is changed seasonally, the list of desserts is changed almost every week. This enables the fresh fruits, for which Scotland is famed, to be included in one guise or another. Mind you, there are also some clever cooks in the kitchen who do diabolical things with chocolate!
There can be no better conclusion to the Champany experience than returning to the bar for your coffee and either a wee-dram of a single malt or a snifter of one of the Early Landed Hine Cognacs that fill a handsome shelf behind the bar.