I Only Have Pies For You
We were absolutely Hank Marvin. We’d had the busiest few days preparing for 2019’s Royal Highland Show. Then we had a rather peaceful journey down to the Allan Ramsay Hotel, in the quaint Scottish Borders village of Carlops. I say peaceful, because I slept the whole time. By the time we’d arrive it was 6pm and the drool was real. The Ramsay Bar was cosy and traditionally Scottish, decorated with old books and fine portraits. And for a Thursday evening, it was relatively busy. Which in a quiet village, is a very good sign.
Brie the Best
The food at The Ramsay was simple but great quality. For starter, I had the Brie Wedges with cranberry compote and a bistro salad. The brie was lovely and gooey and the cranberry took away the strong cheese hit that I literally can’t cope with because I’m a pussycat. Aye 2.0 had smoked salmon, trout and mackerel salad which he inhaled before pinching my leftovers.
The Ramsay is the kind of place where if we hadn’t been super busy the next day, we could have quite easily pulled up a pew by the bar and got stuck into the fine selection of booze. I had one Strawberry Rekorderlig but very quickly had a taste for it (shock). The bar and restaurant have a lovely Scottish countryside feel about them.
Pie High
At Aye HQ, we love pie. But himself doesn’t like pastry and only eats the filling. It’s a bit of a predicament for him. But one I massively benefit from as I love pastry. The food at The Ramsay is really reasonable so I kind of expected the steak pie I ordered to be a reheated job from earlier. Which I definitely don’t mind by the way. But it came out looking like Aunt Bessie had made it. The pastry drooped over the side of the piping hot dish and it smelt amazing! And, it was absolutely packed with the most tender beef and tasty gravy. In fact, it was probably one of the best steak pies I have ever had.
Chicken Me Out 
Aye 2.0 had the pan-fried chicken breast in a mushroom, cream and white wine sauce served with new potatoes and spring veggies, which looked divine. The portions were hefty and cooked beautifully, to the extent that we never even had a dessert – a total rarity! When we spoke to Rosemary, one of the lovely hotel owners, she told us that she grows a lot of the herbs, veggies and rhubarb for the crumble in her garden. This totally added to the cosy country feel.
The Ramsay
After dinner, we rolled out the door and around the corner to the outdoor seating area. It had reached golden hour and Carlops was glowing. In fact, I long to go back to really make the most out of that beer garden. And the dessert menu… You can check out the menu here.
The Ramsay is a lovely wee restaurant and bar, the atmosphere is heart-warming and the Scottish decor is fruitful and reminiscent. Now, to go back in the Winter for a dram by the fire, sounds good eh?
Thanks to The Ramsay for hosting us for dinner and to the lovely staff who were friendly and helpful from the get-go. As always, all opinions are our own, and superb.
