Finzean Estate Farm Shop & Tearoom, Banchory - Restaurants in Banchory | s1play.com

All in the detail

Review published on 31/07/2007 © Sunday Herald

Farm shops are undergoing a renaissance. They once looked like gimcrack roadside bothies and had precious little to sell. Now they are reinventing themselves as a credible source of above average food and, in many cases, as smart, comfortable eating places.

In Britain, the über-farm shop to outdo all other farm shops is Daylesford Organic near Kingham in Gloucestershire. I would recommend a visit there to anyone who is thinking of setting up such a venture, or who is even just interested in food. Of course it is frightfully nice, what with its Country Living hollyhocks-at-the-door decor, its Farrow and Ball Cotswolds tastefulness, and the processions of Olivers and Henriettas who pile out of the four by fours in the car park, but the food is humblingly good, all organic, much of it produced on the farm itself. Cream-topped milk, ochre-yolked eggs, bread baked on the premises, tip top freshly cooked food – it is really impressive.

I got a strong sense of a Daylesford model in operation at the Finzean farm shop and tearoom, a converted farm steading near Strachan in south Deeside which offers heart-lifting views over the Feugh Valley to Clachnaben hill. Of course it is on a much more modest scale than Daylesford, but it has a similar layout consisting of an airy barn with a mezzanine, paintwork in that National Trust shade of faded French green, the slated floor, the clean-cut modernity tamed by John-Lewis-goes-to-the-country touches. But if I had thought for half a minute that this was an attempt to do a Daylesford without grasping the essentials of that concept, then I was soon persuaded otherwise.

Blow me, not only do they hand-slice the bread for their own sandwiches here, they bake all the bread themselves. When you are served butter, it isn't those lazy little foil-covered pats made from some EU butter slick but – wait for it – lovely unsalted butter laboriously formed into little curls. This is the sort of dedication beyond the call of duty or commercial self-interest that makes you want to run into the kitchen and kiss someone.

Everything we ate at Finzean was of palpably fine quality and was testament to the fact that the kitchen lavishes care and effort on everything it sends out. An unusual curried carrot and apricot soup arrived with two kinds each of oatcakes and bread – a slightly sour dough white with nigella seeds and a dark granary with coriander seed. They both richly merited their menu description as ‘artisan'.

Finzean Estate produces its own beef, and shows great creativity in what it does with it. A beef platter consisted of potted beef with a slightly Scandinavian spicing, possibly allspice, slices of beautifully pink cold roast sirloin, strips of a more economical cut that had been cooked in a sharp, lemony marinade and – eat your heart out Eliza Acton – a scoop of memorable naturally-set beef jelly.

Finzean buys well what it doesn't produce and local foods feature strongly. Wummle (a Camembert-style cow's milk cheese from nearby Torphins) made an appearance encased in an unimpeachable tart with buttery, short pastry, teamed up with cream, eggs and walnuts.

A warm, still runny and yielding frittata of potatoes and red onions with fistfuls of fresh green herbs and Parmesan was as good as I have encountered anywhere. Frittatas run the risk of being too solid, but this one was accomplished.

The more major dishes came with accompaniments that, once again, showed thoughtfulness and a desire to do better than is strictly necessary; a Waldorf salad, couscous with roasted peppers, potato salad and fresh baby salad leaves in a mustardy vinaigrette.

By comparison with the savoury dishes, the cakes seemed pretty prosaic. Victoria sponge, strawberry gateau with almond cream, carrot cake, millionaires shortcake et al were all competently made, but felt somehow dated. And anything wrapped in clingfilm always looks a million times less attractive than it otherwise would.

The shop itself has lots of special things to buy, such as the wonderful smoked ham, goose, real corned beef and venison salami supplied by the Wark Farm near Alford, an enterprise to watch that is setting new standards for cooked meat and charcuterie from traditional breeds.

If Finzean Tea Room was on my doorstep, I'd never be out the place.

© Sunday Herald