The Best Restaurants Near TimeSpirit, by the Record
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The floor-to-ceiling windows frame the Speyside valley on one side; a whisky wall does the same on the other. This fine dining restaurant sits above The Macallan's distillery, with a menu shaped by the Roca brothers of El Celler de Can Roca, so Catalan technique turns up alongside Scottish ingredients in ways you didn't expect. The whisky pairing is, perhaps unsurprisingly, the move here.
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Rank 2. Kildrummy Inn
Modern British
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A Murano chandelier and a mounted stag preside over this hotel dining room inside The Fife Arms, where the tartan-clad staff match the cubist painted walls in a way that shouldn't work but does. The kitchen leans classical, pulling prime Scottish lobster and venison through wood-fire techniques that fill the room with a low, smoky warmth. In winter, the fire glows and the whole thing feels like Balmoral if Balmoral had better taste.
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Rank 4. Rocpool
Modern British
A brasserie on the banks of the River Ness, bright and colourful in a way that feels cheerful rather than trying too hard. The menu runs wide, leaning on Scottish produce while pulling in influences from further afield, so the kitchen might pair Shetland monkfish with a Milanese risotto without losing the thread. A natural stop on the North Coast 500, and the kind of room that handles a full house without the seams showing.