Cheese to chalk.
From the luxury of Glebe House, and the crystal sea of Tiree to the decayed grandeur of the Dreadnought Hotel in Callander.
Actually, drop the grandeur part of that statement and you'll be nearer the truth. Nevertheless, the room is large and airy, despite the twin beds being somewhat...erm...basic.
In reality, the Dreadnought Hotel would have had to be pretty amazing to wow us after such a blissful stay on “The Island below The Waves”.
Callander got off to a bad start when we chose to eat at “The Old Bank” last night. The menu was beautifully presented in a metal folder - and each item was beautifully described. It gave us, it has to be said, a huge amount of misplaced confidence.
My “beef chilli” was made using soya-mince mixed with the cheapest catering beef - the flavour being masked as much as possible by copious amounts of chilli powder. The chips were OK, but some was slightly raw in the middle. The garlic bread was OK, except that i could not detect even a trace of garlic flavour from it.
TL's “Cajun Chicken and Bacon Salad” salad promised much, but delivered sliced of chicken, refried and with Mexican flavouring shaken over them. The bacon was OK, but tasted a bit old to me. The salad was fine, according to TL.
All in all, my advice would be to give “The Old Bank” a miss if you happen to pass through Callander. All I can say is that the chippy looked nice.
We've had an OK night here on twin beds pushed together, but it all feels a bit more like camping and a bit less like staying at a nice hotel.
Next, the breakfast - see the breakfast blog for a full report. (assuming I got round to it...)
Ahhh .. how you must miss Eileens fine cuisine - and Ians home-made bread. Haste ye back young man.
Posted by: colin | July 30, 2007 at 12:31 AM