Filled with colourful art and eccentric hand crafted furnishings, central Aberdeen’s Carmelite Hotel is a boutique establishment unlike any other. Whether you’re spending a night in one of the hotel’s four poster beds or just looking for somewhere special for a dinner date, The Carmelite’s Restaurant will leave lasting impression.
Starters in the restaurant range from the retro - think prawn martinis served with iceberg lettuce, Marie rose sauce and tomato salsa in a cocktail glass - to the innovative. The scrumpy Scotch hens egg, soft boiled and wrapped in sausage meat and black pudding, is served with a delicious red onion marmalade and a pot of Thatcher’s cider, whereas the equally as irresistible pan seared scallops come with chorizo, more black pudding and Parma ham crisp.
Follow on from your starters with a citrus infused chicken escalope served with dressed rocket leaves and capers or twice cooked pork belly, which is first braised in a thickened red wine sauce, then roasted, before being served with chorizo, black pudding, creamy mash and seasonal veg. Seafood lovers can opt for pan-fried salmon, or the deliciously refreshing haddock risotto with poached egg and wholegrain mustard sauce. Simpler tastes will be satiated with the Carmelite’s Pie of the Day, a slab of juicy steak, or one of the restaurant’s impressive burgers.
After dinner, sidle on into the Jazz Bar, or through into the bar and lounge to take in the Carmelite’s collection of contemporary paintings. You could even take some time getting lost in the hotel’s intriguing ‘Chair Library’; we won’t give anymore away. A musical venue, a modern day art gallery with an almost harlequin essence, and a superb fine-dining destination all in one, Aberdeen’s Carmelite will hold you transfixed for hours and have you leaving vowing to return again.