La Cucina is a wonderful Italian restaurant that can be found located at the charming resort of Fairmont St Andrews in Scotland. This resort is located amongst 520 acres of stunning grounds, overlooking the coastal views of the North Sea. The Italian restaurant is the resort’s more casual restaurant offering, however the food is superb and we were delighted to visit whilst staying at the hotel. This restaurant is family friendly, which makes for a fun atmosphere and we enjoyed people watching from our table.
When we arrived we were greeted warmly and shown to our table. To begin our evening, I chose a Peroni beer, whilst my partner opted for a tequila and tonic. We sipped our drinks as we made our menu choices and both finally decided upon our antipasti choice of the gamberoni, which came served as three good-sized prawns complete with garlic, chilli oil and tarragon.
For our first course, we opted to share the Rigatoni alla Bolognese, which saw the classic combination of slow cooked beef and pork served in a red wine and tomato sauce over rigatoni pasta. It’s also worth noting that the restaurant offers gluten free pasta options, so the menu is not limited for those with a gluten allergy.
This restaurant is family friendly, which makes for a fun atmosphere.
For the main event, I opted for the Costolette Agnello di Crosta di Erbe which saw a herb crusted rack of lamb served with a delicate artichoke purée and spring greens. The lamb was cooked perfectly, pink in the middle with nice caramelisation around the herb crust. The artichoke purée was also exceptionally smooth and the spring greens retained just the right amount of crunch.
My partner decided on the Merluzzo e Polenta, which is pan seared cod served with polenta with anchovies, tomato ragout and fried capers. Again, the cod was perfectly cooked and the abundance of fresh flavours in this dish was just wonderful. We also ordered a couple of sides to accompany our meal including the garlic and rosemary roasted potatoes and the buttered spinach, which also did not disappoint. We were unfortunately much too full for dessert, however they looked delicious going out to other excitable diners.
We thoroughly enjoyed our trip to La Cucina, which we thought was absolutely a great option whilst staying at the Fairmont St Andrews resort. With the sea views and fun atmosphere, we would definitely recommend this restaurant to anyone and will certainly return during our next visit.
The Bill: £48 per person
