Eat on the Green

Udny Green, Aberdeenshire

visited 15/04/10

I hardly ever get to review country restaurants as the thought of dinner without wine is too dreadful to contemplate. But my gallant companion agreed to do the driving so off we went to Udny Green, about 15 miles out of Aberdeen. The restaurant is in an old, low stone building on, as it says, the very trim village green. The room is rather oddly done out in green leather and white diagonal boards with a tartan carpet. A bit 70s seaside. It has a small bar where I had a nice glass of sauvignon blanc and really great canapés that did exactly what they were supposed to in setting you up for further troughing.

The menu is well conceived—a mixture of standard Scotto-French dishes, but with several chances to have a tasting plate. I had a starter of a little piece of sea bass, a miniature crabcake and terrine. All really well-executed and the only flaw was a slightly pointless prawn cocktail which need something to spice it up a bit. But pretty much a cornucopia of starters.

Next: fillet of lamb--not quite as pink as they said it would be but otherwise fine (lacking in flavour what it gained tenderness, but it was local and that is to be expected at this time of year). It came with a little bit of broccoli, dauphinoise, shallots and a light jus—all in all a nicely judged dish.

For pudding I had a pear mille-feuille for which the pastry was the texture of crispbread, complete defeating the objective in my opinion. A good-humoured discussion ensued with Craig Wilson, the chef, who argued that it was a mille-feuille recipe, but squashed to stop it going soggy. The categorical logic of this defeats me.

The restaurant had a very encouraging mixture of clientele, many of them apparently regulars, and it deserves them. The service was excellent, and everything was completely enjoyable. Nothing was too exciting, but all the cooking techniques were really accurate (apart from the squashing business) and I would very happily go again. It aims at simple, classic food and combining similar cultural categories on the same plate is a good idea for adding a bit of variety. It’s not expensive, as they clearly source good ingredients, provided you can persuade someone to drive you there.