Discover Perthshire’s newest Michelin Star Restaurant

How a couple turned a vision into opportunity

How does a restaurant, tucked off a B-road in Highland Perthshire which features an interplay of the flavours of Scotland and Asia win one of the world’s most prized culinary decorations from an institution which is quintessentially French?

That is a question Tom Tsappis and wife Matilda never, ever set out to answer when they packed up their former lives- and their living room supper club enterprise in London- to buy the 19th century Killiecrankie House, post-Lockdown.

Intentionally or not, however, it is a question they have answered, by being crowned Perthshire’s third – and newest - Michelin Star restaurant.

For Tom, taking a quick break from preparing that evening’s menu, the magnitude of what has been achieved has not fully ‘dawned’.

Yes, the famous chef’s whites, resplendent with the Michelin emblem, are framed in the hall, but the drive to continuously improve, every day, has not changed, nor has the couple’s guiding philosophy, which is to serve food they would love in a restaurant they’d want to eat in.

“I think if you set out with the goal of getting a Michelin star, you probably wouldn’t get one,” reflects Tom, aware of the journey they have been on, from initially buying the period property to having to rebuild parts of it due to crumbling walls.

“You’d be a homage to someone or something else. I think what this restaurant does have is a strong identity. It knows what it is.

“We don’t cook food other people cook. We’ve always had a vision of the experience we wanted to offer, from the beginning. After that, it is just work. How do we improve this dish? How do we fine-tune that? That is what we are doing, every day. The Michelin star, in our industry, is the biggest thing and we are delighted to have it, but you can’t stop.

“Every day is tinkering, building, building. That is what we do, here. There is a dish we serve today that was on the menu when we started. We’ve just changed it over time. It’s a much better version now.”

Tom Tsappis at work by Alex Baxter

Not just any journey

The themes of vision and identity ebb and flow easily throughout the conversation but they are also evident throughout the property, itself, in its style, its decoration, even the choice of colour and lighting.

Killiecrankie House feels like a homage to Tom and Matilda’s vision - diners are being offered a little insight into their world, as well as great flavours. Which other restaurant, Michelin or otherwise, for example, would play (loud) vinyl records as the three-hour culinary experience played out?

In fact, the couple are so intent on providing an authentic experience that they even sometimes give customers a little ‘coaching’ before they arrive.

“We want people to come here, but we also want them to be happy so we’ve always tried to have a dialogue with our customers,” says Tom, choosing a more appropriate vinyl for the record player. The family are bound for Disney soon, so have been playing Disney songs for their daughter.

“For example, we have somebody coming this week and she said, ‘my husband doesn't like shellfish’. So I said, ‘well, come with an open mind. These are the shellfish dishes we can replace for you, to vegetarian, if you prefer. But this is a very popular course and your husband might want to try it’.

“So, we try and guide people as best we can. But this thing (the restaurant and its experience) is still always going to be this thing.”

Image by Alex Baxter

Interplay of flavours

The idea of having a clear identity has, clearly, wowed the Michelin judges, who arrived 5 or 6 times to eat last year without them knowing about it, but it has also made devotees out of customers who enjoy the food, ambience and the ambition, and want to come back.

Matilda draws upon her own tastes, upbringing and experiences to produce adventurous pairings of drinks to accompany the array of courses, served over three hours. Sake, the rice-based wine famous in Japan, is a popular serving for delicate or slightly spicy courses.

“Not the really awful Sake people have had in a karaoke bar,” she laughs. There’ve had a sparkling traditional wine from Japan on the list, a Chinese red produced by her father’s vineyard, but they are also serving a Somerset cider just now, to accompany an apple dessert.

Sitting on a couch in what was the dining room when they bought the property, the couple reflect on the parallels between Japanese and Scottish cuisine, today, and how the distance seems less than before, perhaps due to their own creativity.

Beef, whisky and beer are all common, in some senses, to both countries. Ramen, says Tom with a smile, is not a million miles from Scotch broth. It is these themes that the couple enjoy playing with, using as much local produce as they can, but also providing a gateway to new, international flavours.

“I think the product we offer is good,” says Tom. “You will always get people who different expectations. I mean, this might not be the restaurant for everybody.

“The menu's super long. It's almost 20 courses most of the time. It lasts 3 hours, the dining room can be loud. We play records. The food can be spicy or sour or salty. We don't serve bread. There are no tablecloths. But the people that really like this experience, they feel like it's on its own. They will come back and they will tell other people, too, and that’s really important to us.”

Image by Alex Baxter

Image by Alex Baxter

Family

One of the perceptions people sometimes have, when a restaurant achieves a major accolade, is that, somehow, the establishment has sky-rocketed to prominence due to undeniable genius or good fortune.

That idea makes the couple smile. Despite being a ‘Londoner that doesn’t like London’, Tom acknowledges that he and Matilda took a risk when moving north to a property built in 1840, in a bid to realise their dream.

There was no divine right that it would succeed but, even when the walls were literally peeling away in their hands, they were intent on making things work.

“Matilda and I loved the restaurant when we had three people and we still love it, today, now we have a waiting list.

“We laugh about it. We are going to get a big red plaque on the door saying, ‘we are now a success,’ Tom grins.

“I mean, what does that even mean? According to the staff, we are in Phase 3 now. Phase 1 was just survive at all costs. Then, Phase 2 was to carve out a little identity for ourselves. We are starting to do that now. People understand it and they come back.

“Apparently, because of the Michelin Star, we are in Phase 3 now, according to the staff, but we have no idea what it means so we’ll probably just stay there until we get to Phase 4.

“Joking aside, Matilda and I wanted to do this, also, because we wanted to be in the countryside and bring up a family and be able to do something we love in a place where we wanted to live.”

And that is why the risk, for them, has been worth it.

To learn more about Killiecrankie House Restaurant and Rooms , visit: www.killiecrankiehouse.com