The New County Hotel

Part of the smart, boutique-style New County Hotel, Opus One continues to earn plaudits for its confident modern cooking. The town centre location, next to the Bell Library, pulls in the business crowd for leisurely lunches, while Perthshire's culture vultures turn up for intimate get-togethers when in town for theatre, concert and gallery visits. The hotel goes for a clean-lined minimal modern look throughout, and while there's a cool, cosmopolitan vibe and crowd-pleasing fare in Café 22, and a cheerful, pubby feel to the bar-bistro, it is in the Opus One restaurant that the kitchen pulls out all the stops. Local produce is name-checked on an appealing menu of bang up-to-date ideas, kicking off perhaps with a brandade of salted Shetland pollock, teamed with a poached duck egg, chorizo and white onion velouté, followed by a fashionable treatment of lamb that sees roast loin, braised shoulder and sweetbreads served with haricots blancs and root vegetables.