Top Table
Window seats at the Bridge are particularly covetable as the sun starts to dip and golfer's shadows grow long.
Dress Code
Leave the Pringle and pastels to those outside and opt for some contemporary cashmere and bold colours
Hotel restaurant
18, on the top floor, is the showstopper here: a panoramic parlour for eating, drinking and savouring the very best view in St Andrews. One time MasterChef victor, Le Gavroche alumni and Roux scholar, Derek Johnstone, has crafted a locally leaning menu befitting of the handsomely styled surroundings – straight-outta-the-harbour lobster, Peterhead lemon sole, wood-fired leeks with Lanark goat's cheese, aged Aberdeen Angus steak – all cooked with requisite flair on a robata grill in the open-fronted kitchen. Back on the ground floor, you'll find the Bridge, a white-walled, light-filled brasserie with lashings of Southern charm: cane chairs, marble table tops, brass fixtures, cabana-striped banquettes… Here Johnstone's team serve more relaxed but no less brilliant fare, from indulgent pancakes and grilled kippers at breakfast through to haggis pizza, artichoke risotto and a sublime pork escalope with raisins and capers. All good enough to distract any hungry golfers just beyond the double-height bay windows.
Hotel bar
A bar? Pfff. Here there's an entire actual proper pub in the basement. One Under (see what they did there?) has all the cosy booths, loungeable leather armchairs and wooden bar stools required for comfort, there's classic pub-food favourites to keep you sated, and the wealth of locally brewed and distilled delights will keep you well watered. Check the schedules for live music, too. Oh, and above the bar, etched elegantly into glass, is a cryptic abbreviation – we won't ruin the mystery but if we tell you the last letter stands for 'drink' it might spark some puzzle-solving. Taking things up a level, quite literally, is 18: the aforementioned top-floor dining destination. It sports a bonny wood-panelled bar which you can pull a stool up at, or repair to a cosy sofa. The prime position for sundowners, though, is out on its golf-course-and-beach surveying terrace where there's also a mini putting green and a warming fire pit because, well, this is Scotland.
Last orders
You'll need to finish your last dram by 11pm.
Room service
A full room service menu is available round the clock.