Callander Meadows

The List's Eating & Drinking Guide 2008 is now in the shops. This review is taken from the 2007 edition.

With a commitment to fine, locally-sourced produce and no-frills cookery, Callander Meadows is helping its parent town shed a reputation for culinary misdemeanours. Situated in a handsome old town house that was, in a previous life, one of Callander's many tartanised tearooms, Nick and Susannah Parkes' laudable venture seems successfully to have exorcised lingering ghosts. Both formerly at Gleneagles, the Parkes have eschewed the ornate tendencies of their old stomping ground in favour of a homely philosophy of robust, flavoursome food that strikes a knock-out blow for simplicity. A salad of goat's cheese, fennel and pear and onion marmalade combines tang and sweetness to good effect, while a seafood pâté, chunky in texture with generous amounts of prawn and smoked salmon, comes complete with crunchy, home-made oatcakes and a light, but creamy, chive mayonnaise. A main of poached salmon with spring greens and dill butter sauce is all you'd wish from the dish: it's perfectly cooked fish with an understated, yet wholly fitting accompaniment. Susannah comes into her own with the desserts - a rich chocolate brownie with maple syrup and a slab of Baileys cheesecake proving fitting finales to a refreshingly different Trossachs experience.

• High point: Great selection of wine and Scottish ales
• Low point: Plays it a little bit safe