Tam Cowan Daily Record

"Welcome to The Cotton House in Longcroft - a tiny village just off the M80 near Stirling.

I don't normally do restaurants on a Saturday night - too many places take their eye off the ball when they're mobbed - and regular readers will know Chinese food isn't exactly my favourite cuisine.

However, last Saturday night at this particular Chinese restaurant was a real treat and I'd urge you to give it a bash.

The classy interior reminded me of my favourite Chinese restaurant in Glasgow (don't worry, I'm not talking about the Canton Express!) and a basket of free prawn crackers - warm, light and crispy - the minute you sit down is always a good sign, eh? The wine, I'm delighted to report, is very reasonably priced and the Australian shiraz ("light and fruity with just a hint of liquorice") did exactly as it said.

So, we were off to a flyer and the night just kept getting better and better.

I've always thought the starters in a Chinese restaurant are better than the main courses, so we ordered the mixed platter (£6.50 a skull) and sampled a little bit of everything. Prawn toast (crisp and dry), vegetable spring rolls (ditto), chicken satay (really tasty with a nutty sauce), barbecued ribs (finger-licking good), chicken wings (plenty of meat, surprisingly) and a scattering of seaweed to decorate the plate.

Anyway, moving on to the main courses, the chicken with green pepper and black bean sauce was still spitting, snarling and sizzling a good five minutes after arriving at our table. Keep your hands out of the way or you may end up requiring skin grafts. This fiery dish was almost as good as the Thai sensation chicken. Recommended by our waiter who promised it was "delicious" I'm tempted to say he didn't actually do it justice. In simple terms, it was flash-fried fillets of sliced chicken in a very light batter served in a shallow pool of spicy sauce. Eat it and weep. The Singapore rice noodle also hit all the right buttons.

Sometimes, of course, this dish can resemble a bucket of grass cuttings freshly emptied from the lawnmower, but it was packed with prawns, ham and lots of chillies -and I loved it!!

The dessert of the day was New York Cheesecake, But that would he my wile's dessert of the day every single day of the year, so she wolfed down a generous portion while I enjoyed a banana fritter with a scoop of good quality vanilla ice-cream.

Overall verdict? Good food in very pleasant surroundings and the service was excellent for such a big place on a very busy night.

Having booked a table for 9.15pm, we arrived at 8.55pm (with­out a hint of panic from our waiter) and headed home at 10.10pm after a very satisfactory dinner.

Saturday nights? And Chinese restaurants? I think I may just have changed my tune. Twice!!"

Buddha Belly Eats Review

"I had heard on the grapevine that the Cotton House out by Longcroft was serving up delicious food, so as is my want I decided to sample the menu. I took a bit of a calculated risk by inviting a few members of my family to come along with me. However, needless to say it was no risk with The Cotton House living up to all our expectations.

Helen and Alex Lee, the owners of The Cotton House, have created a very pleasant environment and one that lends itself to creating a first class dining experience.

Seated and given menus by a very attentive waitress we perused the delights of The Cotton House. We ordered and to start we had two portions of the Mixed Hors D’Oeuvres, which I have to say were pure magic and more than enough to get our taste buds flowing. This was accompanied by a number of bottles of Tsingtao Chinese Beer, which can quench the thirst of many a Buddha.

For our mains, we shared Yau Pau king prawns which had been quick fried with mixed vegetables, Sambal chicken which is chicken marinated in chilli with basil and coconut cream, hot and spicy Singapore noodles, curried breast of chicken and, finally, marinated king prawn which was skewered on bamboo and chargrilled and served on a sizzling platter with spicy Malaysian peanut sauce. All was served with the usual egg fried rice.

The meal was fantastic; superb; magnificent; tremendous. I’m running out of adjectives to describe how good the meal was. I suppose I should just state that you will find it hard to beat The Cotton House as the quality food was outstanding, as was the exceptional level of service.

In my view, The Cotton House provides the very best Chinese and Thai cuisine in central Scotland. This is a big statement to make. But believe me it true. If you don’t believe me go and find out for yourself as I’m sure that you will agree that it’s well worth a visit"

The Word Is Out Magazine

"The impressive setting acts as a warm up for the customer before they`re served. The main reason for dining at The Cotton House - the sublime food.