Ostler’s Close Restaurant
Ostler’s Close Restaurant
Ostler’s Close Restaurant
Bonnygate
Cupar
Fife
01334 655574
USA Toll Free Tel: 1-800-849-6345
When a restaurant boasts three AA red rosettes, numerous other accolades and a word-of-mouth reputation that has not faltered for some 16 years, you expect excellent food, first-class service and the kind of ambience you can describe without recourse to imaginary frills. When that restaurant is situated up a narrow "close" in a town not much associated with the sharp edge of Scottish cuisine, you also expect a certain amount of curious charm. But entering Ostler’s Close, with its low ceilings, stuccoed walls, crocheted mats, tiny pots of wild flowers and handwritten menus, is still like stumbling upon a fairytale.
Run by husband and wife team Jimmy and Amanda Graham, it is a place that really does feel like your own home – although, of course, most homes do not offer St Andrews bay lobster or give you tiny cups of gazpacho – accompanied by the daintiest, yeastiest home-baked rolls – as an appetiser. First, you will probably talk with Amanda about everything from the weather to what occasion you are here to celebrate (in this case a 60th birthday), then you will simply settle down to eating and being merry. You will likely end up raising a friendly glass to fellow diners if they happen to leave before you do.
The menu is fairly limited, but that’s as you’d expect from an eaterie that offers only the very freshest ingredients (in fact, you wonder if Amanda nips out to pick herbs between servings). Vegetarians seem a bit hard done by, but you would probably not be putting the chef out were you to request something meat-free. Soya, however, isn’t really a priority - Ostler’s Close is a member of the Scotch beef club and takes great pride in its perfect prime cuts. But there’s also a seasonal fish dish – on our visit it’s poached turbot with scallops – as well as lobster, monkfish and lamb.
We choose starters of Mediterranean seafood broth and sorbet with fruits. The broth is a colourful and sturdy meal in itself, but the sorbet is a work of art – it comes accompanied with floral decorations and looks exquisite on the Royal Doulton Floradora plate. And taste? Well, you just can’t fault it.
In the end we all go for the seafood main course, all being real scallop fans. As a complement, we choose a Pouilly Fuisse from the extensive wine list.
The fish is flaky in that just-cooked way. You certainly don’t need the gleaming fish knives to cut it. The side dishes of vegetables and potatoes, though, are the real highlight. Veg so often ends up meaning broccoli and carrots these days, but Ostler’s Close serves a mixture of Med-influenced combinations and you also get a generous wedge of spinach and cheese tartlet, with shortcrust pastry even better than anything your granny ever made.
It’s this that makes the greengage and almond tart, served with home-made custard, impossible to turn down. And after tasting the custard you will never buy it in cardboard cartons again.
Coffee is served with mini meringues and petite strawberry tarts. If a lot of things come in the littlest versions you’ve ever seen, it’s only because a little of what you fancy does you good, and the Grahams are dedicated to giving you everything you could possibly fancy.
Service is relaxed yet efficient and you’ll never be hurried out the door. Some restaurants are all about performance, but here the performance is so polished that everything is a star turn without seeming like any effort at all.
Ostler’s Close needs no selling and that’s because it is genuinely good.
-Melanie Henderson
