A two-Michelin-star restaurant inside Scotland's oldest working distillery — twenty-six covers under two gold-lustre Lalique chandeliers above the River Turret, kept by Mark…
The verdict
A twenty-six-cover dining room above the still house at Scotland's oldest working distillery, opened by the Lalique group in 2021 and held by chef Mark Donald — the only restaurant inside a distillery to hold Michelin recognition, two stars since 2024, and a Scottish pantry read through Noma, Andrew Fairlie and Hibiscus.
From the editors · Vedere House
The particulars
Setting
The Hosh, Crieff, Perthshire — set above the still house at The Glenturret, founded 1763, on the bank of the River Turret in the Strathearn glen
House
Twenty-six covers, two gold-lustre Champs-Élysées Lalique chandeliers, and a deep green-and-cream room above the river — sister to Villa René Lalique (Alsace) and Lafaurie-Peyraguey (Bordeaux)
Kitchen
Mark Donald — Roux Scholar finalist, trained at Restaurant Andrew Fairlie, sous chef under Claude Bosi at Hibiscus, head chef of Bentley in Sydney and *Number One* at the Balmoral; arrived in 2021
Stars
First Michelin star 2022 (seven months after opening); second 2024 — the first restaurant inside a working distillery to be starred
Floor
Restaurant manager Claude Millée; head sommelier Margaux Houghton — a 400-bin cellar opening on the Glenturret library and the Lalique-group estates
Menu
An eight-course tasting at £220, Wednesday through Saturday — tattie scone with caviar, spoot and kombu, Highland deer with juniper, and a single Glenturret cask pour at the end
Stay
The Aberturret Estate House — a small Georgian house on the river, two miles from the still — bookable as a Gastronomic Stay with the dinner from £790
Best for
A long Highland dinner with the distillery shadow on the river — Edinburgh and Glasgow each ninety minutes by road
The Glenturret is Scotland's oldest working distillery — the Hosh, on the river above Crieff in Perthshire, founded 1763 and bought by the Lalique group with the Hansjörg Wyss family in 2019. The restaurant on the floor above the still house opened in 2021 with Mark Donald in the kitchen. Seven months later it took its first Michelin star; the second arrived in February 2024 — the only restaurant inside a working distillery to hold either.
“
You couldn't write the brief — a brand-new kitchen, the river under the floor, and a wall of casks for the table to drink from.
”
Mark Donald
The room is twenty-six covers under two Champs-Élysées chandeliers from the Lalique manufacture in Wingen-sur-Moder. The cuisine is Scottish on the day's order and global on the technique — Donald cooked at Noma, learned the line under Andrew Fairlie, then Claude Bosi at Hibiscus, two hats at Bentley in Sydney, and the Edinburgh star at Number One at the Balmoral. The eight-course tasting works the Highland pantry — tattie scone with caviar, spoot and kombu, Highland deer with juniper, sea bream with Morteau sausage, raspberry liver in a tuile nest — finished, when the table wants it, with a single Glenturret cask pour walked up from the warehouse below.
The cellar is four hundred bins on the bar list and a deeper book in the cellar — the group's Bordeaux and Alsace houses on the door, the Highland independents Margaux Houghton has been buying for since 2021. The night after is two miles down the river at the Aberturret Estate House — a small Georgian house Lalique restored on the riverbank, four rooms, a Gastronomic Stay from £790. The kitchen runs Wednesday through Saturday; the Lalique Bar runs Thursday through Saturday, with the four hundred whiskies and a long view over the burn.
Signature moments
01
A Torrance boy by way of Copenhagen
Mark Donald grew up in Torrance, north of Glasgow, and started as a pot wash at the Tickled Trout in Milngavie. He took a stage at *Noma* in Copenhagen and was offered the line; he turned it down to learn fundamentals under Andrew Fairlie at Gleneagles. He went south to Hibiscus under Claude Bosi as sous chef, then to Sydney as head chef at *Bentley* (two hats), then back to Edinburgh in 2018 to keep the star at *Number One* at the Balmoral. The Lalique kitchen called in 2021; he came up to the Hosh, brought his Balmoral brigade with him, and held the first Michelin star inside seven months.
02
A room above the river
The dining room sits above the still house, looking down to the River Turret and the wooded slope beyond. Twenty-six covers in dark green and ivory; pressed white linen, parquet, dark wood; two gold-lustre Champs-Élysées chandeliers from the Lalique manufacture in Wingen-sur-Moder hold the ceiling. A second room — *the Lalique Bar* — runs Thursday to Saturday with four hundred whiskies, the cellar leaning on the group's French estates and the Highland houses Margaux Houghton has been buying for since the door opened.
03
A house on the river for the night after
The Aberturret Estate House sits two miles from the distillery on a bend of the river — a small Georgian house in pale stone, four bedrooms, a turning lawn, the water behind the wall. The *Gastronomic Stay* is the dinner with the night that follows; the kitchen sends a car between the table and the bed, and breakfast is served back at the house with the river running. From £790.
