Falls of Dochart Inn: Hearty Soup and Smooth Scotch at the Foot of the Highlands

In Killin, The wide river rushes right through the middle of town,forking in two, under a stone bridge that is only wide enough for one car. On the far side of the bridge, a single lane winds down to the Killin Hotel, which used to be a jail, and on to where the river slows down enough to be able to wade in and fish and paddle small row-boats in the summer. On the near side of the bridge is a lane and a continuous row of gray stone and timber buildings that used to be stables and cloth dyers and leather tanners.

Here, where the river forks, the water is foaming and rushing over a wide cascade of black rocks. The froth is tinged a tan color because of the sediment that it captures from the trickles and rivulets that filter through the soggy, rolling peat hills of the highlands to the north.

When you turn your back to the river, you face across the lane to a set of heavy black doors and the many little square windows of a restaurant; The “Falls of Dochart Inn”. When it’s cold enough - which is usually - there is a column of smoke rising steady from the fat, stone chimney up high on the peaked roof.

When you push through a second set of unpainted, brown wooden doors, you are in a small diningroom that will always have someone else already eating or at least drinking a glass of malt whiskey. The back of the restaurant gets dark and then lights back up where there is a long bar of heavy, lacquered wood, as thick as your wrist, shining from candles in black iron holders. The wall behind the bar is nothing but gold and copper bottles of single malt Scotch whiskey. Some are in fancy holders, made of metal or wood or red velvet, that cover up the lower half of the bottle. The shelves are lighted from the front, so that all of the gold writing on the labels glimmers, and you can see the deep colors of the whiskeys.

When you sit down at a table, it is impossible to be far away from the massive carved hearththat takes up the whole side wall. The hearth extends deep back into the stone, to frame a fire-box where there is an iron rack, hung from chains, that holds a layer of hot coals. The rack used to be the forge for the blacksmith that worked here and so it still has a floor vent to draw up air to keep the coals bright red-hot and smoking, the smoke getting sucked up fast through the chimney. The room is always full of an earthy, peaty smoke smell and the heat from the coals can be felt from across the room.

The best dishes to have for dinner on a blowing, autumn nightare the thick soups and the hearty baked dishes. Some nights, you’ll get Cullen Skink; a creamy bisque of smoked Finnan haddock. Onions and potatoes that has a deep smoky smell and the ocean smell of the docks when the net boats come back in the early morning. The soup stays very hot so you start by dunking in thick cuts of buttered bread. The baked dishes are pies or galettes in the French style; hand rolled pastry shells folded over to hold a mix of ingredients.

In October, they serve a thick crusted tart that holds an oozing mix of aubergine and tomato and a smooth blue-veined goat’s cheese. The tang from the goat’s cheese makes you want to sip your ale in between each bite. The crust is flaky and sweet and you use it to mop up the last bits of the filling, which is still hot and melted.

There are sweet things for pudding too:Usually crumbling cakes and tarts that are just sweet enough to stand up to whiskey. The cakes have subtle flavors like anise and lavender and one pudding is always enough for two people because they are heavy and satisfying.

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The restaurant is openall year, and is much more popular during the warm, short summer when wealthy travelers come from the big cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow to walk the Highlands and climb the Munro peaks, but I mostly remember the feeling of autumn here, because that is when the sky is still clear and crisp, but it is plenty cold to need the big fireplace full of the hot coals heating up the whole room. It is also when the Malts taste the best and warm you the most.

~Sage