The vibe:
A Michelin-starred restaurant with rooms, where a Scottish-Japanese tasting menu, four-poster beds and a very good cocktail bar make for one of the most exciting places to eat and stay in Scotland.
Welcome to Killiecrankie House
The story behind Killiecrankie House is one of those brilliant, bold leaps of faith that you half envy and half admire – and in Killiecrankie, a village best known for bungee jumping into one of Perthshire’s most dramatic gorges, they know a thing or two about leaps of faith.
In 2020, Tom and Matilda Tsappis did what most people only talk about – they left London, headed north and opened their dream restaurant. Tom had trained at Leiths and the pair had run the well-loved supper club Elia. Matilda is a respected sommelier.
Tom’s menu fuses Scottish seasonal produce with Japanese techniques, inspired by Matilda’s heritage and the kaiseki tradition of precise, ingredient-led cooking.
The result is unlike anything else in Scotland. They now hold a Michelin star and have been named Best Restaurant & Hotel in Scotland for 2025.
I’d had Killiecrankie House on my list for a long time. Let’s check in for the full overnight experience.
Getting to Killiecrankie House
Killiecrankie House sits at the Pass of Killiecrankie in Perthshire, roughly 90 minutes from Edinburgh, Glasgow and St Andrews.
Pitlochry is the nearest town, just ten minutes down the road. You can reach Pitlochry by train from Edinburgh in around an hour and 45 minutes, though you’ll need a taxi for the final leg to Killiecrankie House.
The Killiecrankie House Overnight Experience
While you can visit Killiecrankie House for the tasting menu alone, the best way to experience everything is through the full overnight package – a room, the tasting menu and breakfast the following morning.
Check-in is from 4pm, and we made the most of it. Our bedroom overlooked the hotel’s kitchen garden and had a four-poster bed, a huge slipper bath and original restored shutters.
The colour palette throughout is a dramatic deep blue with dark wood floors, and with alpaca throws, hand-painted wash basins and a luxurious shower stocked with Laura Thomas toiletries, this is anything but a generic hotel stay.
We settled in for tea and a slice of homemade Ecclefechan tart before heading down to the bar.
The bar at Killiecrankie House
Before dinner, there is the bar – and this must be the coolest cocktail bar in Perthshire.
Turquoise velvet bar stools, stunning pink Murano glass chandeliers and soul music on a vintage 1960s record player set the tone beautifully.
There is an extensive cocktail menu and a serious whisky selection spanning both Scottish and Japanese distilleries.
Food at Killiecrankie House
Killiecrankie House has a Michelin star for a reason – and you’re about to find out why.
Dinner begins at 7pm in the bar or lounge with a series of snacks. A shot of Isle of Skye lobster and kaffir lime ‘tea’ arrives alongside a Singapore chilli croustade.
A delicately pretty tart delivers an unexpectedly deep, rich hit of beetroot. A Scottish beef tartare comes topped with a nose-clearing wasabi punch.
The highlight of the snacks, though, is the dripping-fried porridge – a playful nod to the old Scottish tradition of setting porridge in a drawer before frying it. It’s where the Scottish term “piece” originally came from. Clever, fun and completely delicious.
What to expect from the tasting menu
From the lounge, you move through to Killiecrankie House’s Nordic-style dining room, with its open kitchen taking centre stage.
Five intimate tables, soul music on the record player and a buzzy, relaxed energy – this is not a restaurant where you sit in reverent silence. Which is, frankly, a relief.
What followed was one of the best meals I’ve eaten anywhere in the world.
Many reviews of Killiecrankie House fixate on the showstopping BBQ Squid, Not BBQ’d, but to do so is to sell Tom’s other ten courses short.
A silky house-made oat tofu is served with sweet Isle of Skye brown crab and a mildly spicy doubanjiang, a fermented chilli bean paste.
An incredibly smooth confit of Loch Duart salmon arrives in a rich plum and blood orange beurre blanc – a sauce I could quite happily have bathed in.
Black truffle makes a memorable appearance, delicately draped over morels stuffed with celeriac and adorning a rich mushroom and truffle panisse like an impossibly indulgent edible crown.
Slivers of pork belly braised in Shaoxing wine are topped with furikake made from the pork skin. Squares of A5 wagyu are served with a Korean-style banchan of perfectly sized pickles, letting the butteriness of the beef speak for itself.
The team deliver each course with genuine warmth and zero stuffiness – I usually brace myself when dishes are explained tableside, but here it never once felt awkward.
Finally the desserts. Granny Smith and Pink Lady apples are served with ginger and dill, and to finish, a showstopping chocolate ganache comes with sunflower seeds, caramel and sambal.
Don’t skip the Discovery Pairing
The Discovery Pairing deserves a mention of its own. Matilda has put together a selection of accompanying drinks that are adventurous without being alienating – spanning sake, wine and cyder.
From ‘Misty Mountain’ sake and a wonderfully characterful Sugrue Bonkers Chardonnay V2, through an unashamedly traditional Lopez de Heredia Rioja and an unusual Hungarian Sebestyen Seb B+, to a closing glass of Babylonstoren’s The Newt Ice Cyder.
Each one chosen to match, contrast or surprise alongside the food. One of the best pairings I’ve had in Scotland.
Breakfast at Killiecrankie House
Breakfast is included for overnight guests and is, predictably, brilliant. The same care and creativity that goes into the tasting menu extends seamlessly to the morning table.
We started with a bowl of porridge with nuts and seeds before moving on to warm Japanese milk bread, a nod to the kitchen’s Japanese influences that feels entirely at home at the breakfast table.
Scrambled eggs with leeks, Vietnamese sausage and potato rosti came next, a dish that had absolutely no right to be as good as it was. Juice is hand-squeezed Granny Smith apple. Coffee is from Glen Lyon Roastery in Aberfeldy, and is excellent.
It is, in short, the kind of breakfast that makes you want to check in all over again just to have it twice.
Is Killiecrankie House worth it?
A Michelin star in a small Perthshire village, run by two people who threw caution to the wind to be here.
The passion behind that decision shows in absolutely everything – the food, the rooms, the service and the send-off at the door.
Tom and Matilda could have opened somewhere easier, somewhere more obvious. Instead they chose a whitewashed house in a wooded gorge in Perthshire, and quietly built one of the best restaurants in Scotland.
Some leaps of faith land perfectly and unlike an actual bungee jump into the Killiecrankie gorge, this is one experience we’d go back for again and again.
Kate – Love from Scotland x
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I’m Kate, the Scotland-based travel writer behind Love from Scotland. I share first-hand destination guides and accommodation recommendations across Scotland. Let me help you plan your best ever trip!