One of Highland Perthshire’s most prestigious country houses is set to reopen under new ownership later this week.
Tom Tsappis and Matilda Ruffle relocated from London to Pitlochry when they purchased Killiecrankie House back in November 2019 for £1.2 million.
The couple have completely renovated the venue and will reopen its doors to the public for the first time tomorrow since it closed two years ago, in October 2019.
Now a restaurant with rooms, the five-bedroom venue has experienced a further £600K investment in the renovation project which has taken 10 months to complete.
Matilda and Tom have designed the interior of the property and have handpicked a number of items.
Matilda said: “The bedrooms are cosy and comfortable, whereas the bar is a bit out there. It is an Art Deco overload. Places like Soho House and The Ned in London are luxurious but comfortable, and that’s what we’re going for. We wanted it to feel a bit more mischievous.”
12-course tasting menu
Employing a team of five, three chefs will join Tom in the kitchen and a head bartender and a head housekeeper/front of house, who have come from the Torridon in the Highlands, will join Matilda front of house.
Originally setting out to provide a 15-course tasting menu for guests, Tom has slightly changed the offering to boast 12-courses with sweeties due to adding additional dishes to some courses.
The 18-seater restaurant can be booked by residents and non-residents, with each of the five rooms allocated a table for dining.
There is also a cocktail bar with six bar stools and a lounge area across the hall which can seat an additional 14.
Tom added: “We’ve taken a lot of inspiration from our staff for the menu. Our head bartender said the cocktail scene in Scotland wasn’t as sophisticated as in Hungary, so we’re looking forward to introducing people to his drinks and style.
“Some of the courses now come with carbohydrates – which we originally said we’d not have – but some have snuck back in. Log fired rolls, which one of our new chefs introduced to us, have made it onto the main course.
“We might have lost a few courses but you still get the same amount of food as it is a long menu.
“The garden kitchen isn’t completely finished but has its beds and polytunnels in so we’ll make more use of it next spring.”
Just serving dinner
Operating Wednesday to Saturday, or Sunday morning if residing on Saturday evening and staying for breakfast, the venue will just serve up dinner until spring 2022 when it will expand the offering.
To help battle food waste and keep staff wellbeing at the forefront of the operation, the duo only open bookings for the hotel three months in advance and all reservations must be paid in advance.
Tom added: “It helps cut down waste as we’re not preparing for a full house and then 30% of people don’t turn up. We know exactly how many people we are catering for and know how much to purchase.
“It will also help us look after our staff and they know what to expect every shift. We don’t want to spread the team too thin. We want to get dinner and the rooms really, really good and then everything else will come.”
For more on Killiecrankie House visit www.killiecrankiehouse.com.