The 'luxury' restaurant and cafe that's opened as part of glorious new East Lothian destination
This is the sign you need to visit this town
The restoration of Papple Steading in Haddington has been a real labour of love for the Mackintosh family.
Over the last few years, they’ve methodically worked on every aspect of this East Lothian venue, which, among other things, now offers four sizes of accommodation that range from Farmhouse to Shepherd’s Bothy, The Richard Demarco Gallery and Papple Wood, with its handcrafted follies and woodland animals.
However, the piece of the puzzle that we most eagerly anticipated is the restaurant, wine bar and cafe, which has just opened. Eve’s Court is named after Lady Eve Balfour, who was a Soil Association founder and author of The Living Soil, and spent much of her childhood on the estate.
Their winter dishes at this attraction include poached langoustines with pickled kohlrabi, fermented chilli, roasted kohlrabi puree; red deer loin, Phantassie turnips, charred sprouts, puffed buckwheat and bramble jus, with puds including gorse, almond and coconut friand. With a menu like that, it’s undoubtedly going to be something of a destination.
We asked owner George Mackintosh to share more about the project.
Tell us about Papple Steading
It began as a mission to save a steading. Farm buildings are being lost - agricultural heritage unseen and unknown. So since 2017, we have painstakingly restored and repurposed a whole farm: the farmhouse, the grieve's cottage, bothies, the granary, cattle courts, neep and straw sheds and the stables. The result is a farm hospitality destination with extremely comfortable accommodation, an agricultural heritage centre, a library, a gallery and a cafe/wine bar. The style is country, but not county. The restaurant Eve's Court is so named because Lady Eve Balfour spent her early years on the estate before founding the Soil Association; Court because it was a cattle court. And what a transformation, with a stylish blend of original materials and cool fittings. Smart but endearingly casual; warm and well lit. We had a great architect - Richard Murphy - and the finely detailed reconstruction creates a place which honours its heritage and delivers a comfortable cosy atmosphere. Dogs and kids are welcome too.
And the food and drink?
Our first move was to retain one of Scotland’s best chefs, now turned consulting restaurant creator, Scott Smith of Blank Plate Creative. He put together a sophisticated menu, unexpected in a rural retreat. Head chef Chris O’Connor was persuaded from The Pompadour at Edinburgh’s Caledonian Hotel. In keeping with the ethos of Papple, which holds a Green Tourism GOLD award, the food is predominantly sourced locally. Phantassie organic greens, Musselburgh landed langoustines and the list goes on. My wife Eri Mackintosh has curated a wine list from vineyards she has visited. An extraordinary range from Georgia (the country, not the state), to Poland, Hungary, to South Africa and a selection from Burgundy, Tuscany and Sussex. The whizzy enomatic machine allows one to sample before forking out for the £29 or the £229 bottles.
Are you doing lunch as well as dinner?
We're a destination, so people have been walking, cycling and driving here. You don't really want to zoom in and out. So we are serving dishes in our winter season between noon and 6pm. People have been coming here at 3pm and having a large lunch, or maybe it's an early supper. We won’t pigeonhole it. You can also come for coffee. We have a pastry chef and the cheese scone is to die for. We even do a bacon roll. It's a very, very good bacon roll, because cyclists will want to come out here and have one at whatever time in the afternoon.
What has the feedback been like so far?
There is quite a buzz amongst locals, as they’ve seen it take shape. Our name suggests we’re a farm but this is not really a farm experience. People imagine, for accommodation, that they’re going to get something that's a little bit damp, scruffy, and, cold. They think that whatever catering there is, it’s a burger, with straw bales parked around the edge of the room. So the name doesn't really suggest what we’ve got. We’ve had loads of locals here in the last few days, and the most common words that come out on social media are, ‘surprise’ and ‘stunning’.
Are you planning any food events in the future?
Most definitely, we’ll do some special dining. We’ll blend that with wine events, because that’s what my wife brings to the table. And cheese, as we love The Cheese Lady in Haddington, she’s been a longtime friend of this place. We’re going to introduce our partnership with Glenkinchie, so a bit of whisky tasting there.
What else is there for day visitors, apart from the food offering?
So, East Lothian won’t know what hit it. Allow time to step into The Richard Demarco Gallery - or discover how the clearances affected the rural population of the Lothians. And the wildflower meadow might be the largest rewilded space in the Lothians. Certainly worth a visit. It’s a destination. It’s perfect for a wellbeing retreat, academic retreat, a corporate retreat and a holiday retreat. We’ve got loads of multi-generation holiday makers coming here, and now we’ve got the extra attraction of a place to eat and a place to drink. And there are very few places like this around here. There is an emerging definition, which is called farm hospitality. If you go to Spain, a couple of places in England, or America, these venues offer a new level of hospitality in the countryside that appeals to people - international or local, who might want to see what’s going on in the countryside, but with the sort of comfort they would expect.
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Read more: “I took my family to their favourite Edinburgh restaurant, where the queue is still down the street”
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