Craobh, Crieff

Well, they're both trees, aren't they? The restaurant Craobh, pronounced kroov, is the Gaelic word for tree. The name of the town Crieff, pronounced kreef, also derives from the same Gaelic word, but the city fathers obviously realised that no one knew how to pronounce Gaelic names.

Regular readers may recall that I frequently rant about Lowland Scots restaurants which adapt names which are unpronounceable to the vast majority of their prospective clientele. Taisteal, Glaschu and Aizle are just a few which come to mind. No rant here, just a chuckle. Why? Because, as front of house star Andrew explained, those in charge quickly realised the error. The logo now incorporates the pronunciation, so that many believe the full name to be Craobh Kroov.

From the outside it's an unassuming wee place, tucked away in a corner of James Square in the town centre. An array of cakes faces you on entry, and you might be forgiven for thinking it's just another coffee shop. They don't open until midday, however, and the menu tells another story. I was there for lunch to meet all the significant ladies in my life minus L. Three daughters, and a granddaughter who has the permanent glint of mischief in her eye.

Andrew tells us that the business has been here for seven years. For the first few it traded as a French restaurant. Business was just so so, but turned around dramatically when they switched to the current format. I regret I have no idea who they are. It seemed a little rude to quiz Andrew about ownership. He was doing quite a splendid job as it was.

The menu is cleverly constructed. You can order brunch up to 15.30. If a lighter lunch is your thing there are half a dozen sandwich options which you can also have as a salad bowl, with soup only three pounds extra. (Full price on its own is £6.75.) There are the crowd pleasers such as almost famous fish and chips, and a range of burgers. For the larger appetite you can have a steak if you wish.

But if that sounds a little prosaic, read on. There is a vegetarian stroganoff, a couple of twists on mac and cheese, and posh stovies. Let me tell you that no self respecting Johnston would touch such a dish featuring beef and carrots - we have our stovie standards. But I'm sure it would be delightful. Why? Because everything else was.

Crispy beef with an Irn Bru and Chilli glaze anyone? That features as a starter on the dinner menu. At lunch it's served with a portion of jasmine rice, and very tasty it is too. R was happy with her king prawn pil pil sandwich (helpfully translated on the menus as think slightly spicy prawn cocktail). Soup of the day, Wednesday, was curried parsnip, a fine example. Mac and cheese can be a very lazy dish, but we particularly enjoyed the well spiced cajun prawn version. Chef likes his spicing, but it's all delicately done, and certainly not a case of one flavour suiting all.

We speculated why the fish and chips were almost famous. I think they now deserve to be elevated. A couple of generous chunks of fish. The garlic aioli was an artful squiggle. A request for more was met with instant delivery of a bowlful of the stuff. I've had better chips, but I've had worse. For some reason, another member of the happy band had ordered a side of sweet potato fries. The horror!  Must review the will.

How, after mac and cheese and fries there was room for a sticky toffee pud, I know not. It's a bit too sweet for my taste these days, but a large chunk drowning in sauce was accompanied by a mighty ball of ice cream. A more ladylike portion of affogato came with an equal chunk of ice cream with espresso, and amaretto biscuits. If you read this guys, get the spellings corrected when you next reprint the menus.

For a picky pedant (if that's not a tautology) such as myself, the fact that the worst fault I can find involves a couple of spelling errors speaks volumes. Well done, everyone concerned. If every small Scottish town had an eating place like Craobh, the country would be a better place.

Tom Eats! will return in two weeks' time