Dinner, tea, or supper – what do you call it? I used to call it tea, now I call it dinner for some reason. However, when you’re staying at an auld Scottish coaching inn, ‘supper’ seems more fitting somehow?

We stayed at the Allan Ramsay Hotel on the last night of a two week break that saw us take an epic road trip to Land’s End via London, and home again. We spent an indulgent afternoon relaxing and reading in the lounge, before we enjoyed supper in the restaurant. We treated ourselves to their nicest bottle of wine, a vintage claret from Bordeaux.

All the food at Allan Ramsay Hotel is traditional in its style, presentation, and portion size. I started with a classic, Mushrooms On Toast (bruschetta in this case). It was delicious – food doesn’t always need to be fancy to be satisfying, quite the opposite, sometimes you just want comfort, and this was that. Alex had the Haggis Bon Bons which had been rolled in oats for extra crunchiness. The bon bons were Scottish generosity in food form, about the size of golf balls!

A Scottish Steak Pie may have disappointed some by not being completely encased, I like my pies like this with just a pastry lid, and this was a good homemade pie personalised with the initials of the restaurant. With a glass of red wine, it was very satisfying. No complaints. Alex had the Bangers and Mash, the sausages were loyal to their surroundings coming from the borders and the creamy mash was swimming in a sea of thick gravy – just how we like it.

We had to take a break before we could manage desserts, which we had back in the lounge. We shared a Sticky Toffee Pudding and a Cheesecake, the pudding was our favourite as the cheesecake was a little firmly set for us.

If you like your food honest and unfussy, then you’ll enjoy Allan Ramsay. Warm Scottish hospitality, combined with decent homemade food.

Find out more about Allan Ramsay Hotel here.