Review: The Cellar, Anstruther

Have you visited the east of Scotland? Not Edinburgh. Not the majestic Highlands or the wild Islands, not Stirling or Loch Ness. But the surprisingly fertile swathe north and east of Edinburgh that includes places like Dundee and Perth and St Andrews. You should. It’s dotted with evocative medieval castles, truly ancient monuments, gnarly little towns of old red stone, and a bunch of gritty working ports and fishing harbours. The jewel in the crown might be the “East Neuk” of Fife, a string of beautiful cobbled fishing villages. You could be mistaken for thinking yourself in Devon, except that it’s far less crammed with tourists. To be fair, it’s also far less crammed with cafes serving a decent flat white, which makes searching out the little gems more satisfying.

Which brings me to The Cellar in Anstruther. Okay, so we searched it out and booked beforehand, but it’s a gem. Innocuously hidden down a little courtyard off a tiny back road just beyond the harbour, inside is a cosy dining room with plenty of bare stone and dark wood (the “cosy” lighting level is my excuse for grainy photos!). Service was friendly and unstuffy, the wine list was fairly short and sensible; hardly wandering into three digits even at the top of the reds. They serve a tasting menu with a couple of options along the way.

So we began with a couple of nibbles, the best being a quails egg wrapped in crispy filo strands and set on a blob of very punchy lovage mayo; great to get the full flavour of the herb. First starter was a lovely combo too, little unctuous chunks of ox tongue with diced pickled cucumber, hidden under a pea and mint mousse with some great tarragon-flavoured scrunchy bits on top. Yes, scrunchy bits is a technical term. Second starter matched the first for pleasure; white crab meat, a bright dashi with plenty of depth, and a really effective asparagus foam. It’s not often a foam wins me over.

Maureen then went for a beetroot dish pepped up with flavours of charcoal oil, goat cheese and basil. I only tried a nibble, nice combo. My dish included a very neat piece of cod, a dramatic and tasty squid ink dressing and baby gem lettuce. The whole thing was very good to eat. My main course was also beautiful to look at, beef with charred grelot onions, pickled raddichio, blobs of black garlic puree and a scattering of blue

cheese crispy puffs. Another technical term, that is. The combination of flavours was really satisfying and very nicely balanced. I’m gonna admit to actually not being bowled over by the piece of beef itself – just didn’t get bags of flavour out of it, and it was fairly dense to boot. Bit of a shame for an otherwise excellent dish.

Absolutely nothing wrong with Maureen’s main, though. Beautiful piece of halibut, cooked to a tee, served with a really slick lemony emulsion, fat local mussels, and a wonderful char-grilled leek with parmesan blobs on. Dish of the day.

There was a very pleasing first pud, a barley flavoured cream with a gentle hay sorbet and little pings of crispy honeycomb on top; just enough to not overpower the softer flavours beneath. Second pud was one of those seldom memorable tasting menu chocolate concoctions, absolutely nowt wrong with it though. In fact our whole meal was excellent, and at £60 each I’d say it’s really spot on for the sheer quality of the cooking, the interest in the dishes and the lovely surroundings. Anstruther might be the prettiest spot on the east coast of Scotland, so there’s two reasons to come.