A weekend in St Andrews - the old grey town

Spud and I and friends re-visited our old haunts at the weekend in St Andrews, Fife.  We all met at University there and the town has fond memories - the weather doesn't seem to have changed much, for sure...
The gastronomic highlights of the weekend - in the order we sampled them:

1) The Doll's House Restaurant
The Doll's House is new since we left St Andrews (though we have eaten there before) - its a nice, relaxed and busy place right in the middle of the town.  I had a good trio of fish - mackerel, sardine and sea bream - in a very good lemon sauce (I'm guessing at a fish stock reduction, clarified butter and lemon juice here).  The lemon sauce cut through the fish very well indeed - though all three fish made for too much to finish!

2) Old Fishergate House
We stayed in this lovely B&B for the two nights we were there - it only has two rooms so we had the run of the place between us.  The owners used to have the best coffee-shop in town (The Merchant's House), now sadly closed (they sold-up some time ago and the next owners couldn't work the business as well).  The breakfasts here were great - cooked to order as all breakfasts should be - I can recommend the smoked haddock omelette and the home-made marmalade!

3) Fudge Donuts from Fisher and Donaldson
I don't know how long F&D have been baking for, but their fudge donut deserves a preservation order from the UN to ensure its survival.

4) The Vine Leaf
This is probably my favourite restaurant in the world - it has great food, a great atmosphere, a great (and well priced) wine list and the best front of house guy I've ever come across.  It's nice to go into a restaurant that someone else has booked and be recognised after 5 years of absence!  Following some accurately cooked scallops,  I had a good trio of game (it was a weekend of foodie trios) - pheasant, pigeon and a very nice piece of venison fillet.  Spud's sea bass with lemon grass and ginger was also very good.  I also had the most amazingly gooey chocolate fondue laced with a generous whack of Grand Marnier...  I can't recommend this place enough - and now they have lovely looking rooms above as well.

There aren't many of the old businesses left in St Andrews (I left in 1994), but I'm so glad to say that Ian and Morag are still there at the VineLeaf and that Angus and Jennifer are still feeding people up even after the demise of the Merchant's House!

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