![]() ![]() “Show the fool some respect.” A motto to cook by. It complements those Loch Linnhe mussels to perfection. Asked what he’d choose for his last supper, he replies: “I’d probably sit on the pier with a dozen of Judith’s oysters and a pint of Guinness.” Despite preferring to keep things simple, he’s not averse to experimenting, and is justifiably proud of his Lea & Perrins XO sauce, a condiment that he reverse-engineered based on memories of Asian spices. Leathley is on first-name terms with most of his suppliers. The oysters are hand-picked from nearby Loch Creran mussels and langoustines are harvested from Loch Linnhe and Loch Etive and crab, lobster and white fish are likewise liberated from local waters. “I try not to over-chef it,” says Michael Leathley, who heads the kitchen. Though meat and game feature on the menu, seafood is the star: impeccably fresh, straightforwardly prepared. The Pierhouse stands a few yards from Loch Linnhe, with fine views towards Lismore and, beyond it, Mull. Its portfolio of small-scale, unpretentious restaurants-with-rooms currently comprises The Pierhouse in Port Appin and The Three Chimneys on Skye. Though best known for hangouts of a rather different character, such as One Aldwych in London, Campbell Gray is now focusing on a new venture in his native Scotland: the Wee Hotel Company. This beloved bolthole, in a ravishing spot on the Argyll coast between Oban and Glencoe, was recently acquired by hotelier Gordon Campbell Gray. He’s brilliant at balancing flavours and textures – and colours, as with his amuse bouche of raspberry, liver and cocoa, which looks like a cabochon ruby in a bird’s nest and tastes every bit as exotic as it sounds. Glasgow-born chef Mark Donald (Noma, Hibiscus, Number One at The Balmoral) works with Scottish meat, fish and shellfish, as well as foraged ingredients such as wild garlic, morels and sweet cicely. In this respect too, Glenturret delivers spectacularly. Such pedigree is all very well, but the proof is in the pudding – and the dozen or so courses on the tasting menu that precede it. Second, it’s half-owned by Lalique, the French glassware brand, which has years of experience running wineries with Michelin-starred restaurants. The first is that it’s the oldest working distillery in Scotland and one of the most picturesque, set in serene woodland a chip and a putt from Gleneagles (convenient, as you can’t stay at Glenturret). But Glenturret has a couple of advantages over would-be competitors. Hopefully its success will inspire other distilleries to follow suit. Glenturret did so – and was promptly rewarded with a Michelin star, just seven months after opening. But attaching one to a whisky distillery is. The idea of attaching a top-class restaurant to a top-class winery isn’t new. Good luck finding another restaurant in Scotland with this one’s particular combination of seriousness of purpose and lightness of touch, in such a haunting setting. The confit carrot with sea buckthorn, capers and hazelnut lingers in the memory. The regional staples are all present – scallops, halibut, venison, beef, lamb – but it’s the unexpected details that captivate. Nicholson’s tasting menu rotates daily and seasonally, and draws heavily on produce from the nearby community garden and Mull, which you can see from the battlements. The scale of their operation is modest – just four bedrooms and a restaurant that seats 20 – but their ambition is vast. But it’s manager-sommelier Jessica Thompson and her main squeeze, chef Colin Nicholson, that make Mingary great. ![]() It has been lovingly restored a warm, oaky charm prevails. The 13th-century castle is a silo-like structure that – weirdly, considering its mass – feels as if it’s suspended in thin air over the Atlantic. The drive from Fort William is long and winding, tracing the shores of Loch Linnhe and Loch Sunart, through forests of ancient oak to the wild, windswept Ardnamurchan Peninsula. It’s at the most westerly projection of mainland Scotland – in fact, of mainland Britain. A Cool, Contemporary and Stylish Inverness Restaurant serving Great FoodĪSH is an exciting, cool and contemporary cafe/bar and restaurant situated right in the heart of Inverness city within the Royal Highland Hotel, almost adjacent to Inverness Railway Stationĭone out in rich cherry wood and taupe colours it is the place to be seen. ASH is where you come to enjoy good food with an even greater atmosphere and superb prices.Never has a castle that appears so utterly forbidding on the outside felt so entirely welcoming on the inside. ![]()
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