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Scottish produce – particularly its beef, fish, shellfish and game – can be outstanding, and in whisky the country lays almost complete claim to one of the world's most popular and sophisticated drinks. With only a limited range of traditional foods and recipes to draw on, Scottish cuisine has welcomed a host of foreign influences, from classic French cooking to the Italian, Indian and Asian ideas brought by immigrants. In what is generally described as Modern Scottish cooking, these influences join forces with fresh, well-sourced local produce, with results that can be a lot more impressive than visitors expect. What to eat
Abstract Restaurant - Inverness 01463 223777
As seen on TV (Ramsay's Kitchen
Nightmares) Contrast Brasserie next door is a must for anyone staying or visiting Inverness. Our team of chefs combine the best of local ingredients with traditional high quality cooking to offer a dining experience that’s unique. During the summer months alfresco dining is also available, with the additional choice of choosing something tasty from our sensational BBQ. Lunch £6.95 Address: The Glenmoriston Town House Hotel, 20 Ness Bank, Inverness, IV2 4SF
Anderson, The 01381 620 236 A restaurant with rooms on the beautiful Black Isle, just 10 miles from Inverness; it is owned and operated by Jim and Anne Anderson, originally from America, who offer a truly international menu that changes daily in order to take advantage of the vast range of local produce and wildlife at their peak of flavour. Address: Union Street, Fortrose, nr Inverness, IV10 8TD Cuisine(s): International, Fusion, Gastropub Avg. Cost Per Head Lunch: N/A, Dinner: £19.00 (also serves the best beer in the area)
Cafe 1 01463 226200Café 1 has received wide acclaim for its contribution to the cause of good Scottish food in Inverness. The décor is stunning with an overall impression of richness and warm comfort. No wonder people keep on coming back. Address: 75 Castle Street, Inverness, IV2 3EA Cuisine(s): Modern European Avg. Cost Per Head Lunch: £14.00, Dinner: £29.00 Harry Ramsden's - Inverness For over 75 years Harry Ramsden's have become synonymous with their famous fish and chips. Almost as well known are their mushy peas, a British favourite. This chain offers great food whether in their restaurants or as take aways. Address: Inshes Retail Park, Inverness, IV2 3TW Cuisine(s): Fish & Chip, Seafood Avg. Cost Per Head Lunch: N/A, Dinner: N/A Java World Bistro
Address:
25-27 Church Street, Inverness, IV1 1DY Mustard Seed Restaurant, The 01463 220220 Opened in 2001 and situated on the banks of the River Ness, The Mustard Seed is a relaxed and informal, modern style family restaurant. Located in a former church, The Mustard Seed retains the feel of its former existence with its high, vaulted ceilings and mezzanine floor.Address: 16 Fraser Street, Inverness, IV1 1DW Cuisine(s): French, Modern, Scottish Avg. Cost Per Head Lunch: £19.00, Dinner: £38.00 Also own The Kitchen across the river; similar food. Number 27 01463 233077 Address: 27 Castle Street, Inverness, IV2 3DU Cuisine(s): Grill, Scottish, Seafood Avg. Cost Per Head Lunch: £14.00, Dinner: £26.00 Pizza Express - Inverness 01463 709700Pizza Express remains a hugely popular bedrock of casual eating. Its popularity is testimony to the fact that across the country, they have restaurants where you will always be guaranteed a good nosh, with children's tastes being well catered for. Address: Unit B, Eastgate Centre, Inverness, IV2 3PP Cuisine(s): Pizza & Pasta Avg. Cost Per Head Lunch: £15.00, Dinner: £21.00
Address: Culduthel Road, Inverness, IV2 4AG Cuisine(s): Italian, Modern Avg. Cost Per Head Lunch: £18.00, Dinner: £35.00 Restaurant at Culloden House Hotel 01463 790461Culloden is a handsome, typical Scots country house which has the dubious distinction of having been Bonnie Prince Charlie's quarters at the time of the Battle of Culloden. It was to this house that many of the wounded Jacobites were brought after the conflict only to fall victims to "Butcher" Cumberland, who carried out his orders with awful precision. Address: Culloden, Inverness, IV2 7BZ Cuisine(s): International Avg. Cost Per Head Lunch: N/A, Dinner: £34.00 Restaurant at Dunain Park Hotel 01463 230512 Address: Inverness, IV3 8JN Cuisine(s): Modern, Scottish Avg. Cost Per Head Lunch: N/A, Dinner: £48.00 Restaurant at The Bunchrew Hotel 01463 234917 Address: Inverness, IV3 8TA Cuisine(s): Modern European, Scottish Avg. Cost Per Head Lunch: N/A, Dinner: £47.00 Restaurant Chez Christophe 01463 717126The Auld Alliance is alive and well if Chez Christophe is anything to go by, offering a union of French cuisine with the best of Scottish produce. It is tiny, out of all comparison with the clout it packs, just sixteen covers, but this only serves to enhance the illusion that you are dining in somebody's home. Address: 16 Ardross Street, Inverness, IV3 5NS Cuisine(s): French, Modern Avg. Cost Per Head Lunch: N/A, Dinner: £41.00 Riverhouse Restaurant, The 01463 222033This dignified and welcoming restaurant overlooking the River Ness offers well-prepared and locally sourced food in a wide variety of dishes which all follow much the same pattern of traditional with modern. Address: 1 Greig Street, Inverness, IV3 5PT Cuisine(s): British, Modern, Seafood Rocpool Rendezvous 01463 717274To anybody who has been reared on a diet of tartan and dark oak in matters of décor, Rocpool must come as something of a shock. A glass confection occupying a key site on the River Ness it certainly speaks for a modern Scotland, and attracts very considerable attention. Address: 1 Ness Walk, Inverness, IV3 5NE Cuisine(s): Modern European Avg. Cost Per Head Lunch: £13.00, Dinner: £40.00 Room, The Address: 73 Queensgate, Inverness, IV1 1DG Cuisine(s): Grill, Scottish, Seafood Avg. Cost Per Head Lunch: £12.00, Dinner: £26.00 Stag and Haggis Restaurant, TheLoch Ness House is a welcoming family run hotel that offers genuine Highland hospitality. Backed with the knowledge and experience of hoteliers, who also have a keen awareness of what today's visitors to the Highlands require, the hotel is able to meet and often exceed expectations. Address: Loch Ness House Hotel, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness, IV3 8JL Cuisine(s): International, Scottish, Breakfast Avg. Cost Per Head Lunch: N/A, Dinner: N/A
Muir of Ord Ord Arms Hotel Telephone: 01463 870286 Our extensive menu offers choices to suit most tastes and are freshly made to order. Our 3* award winning chef's menu includes various choices of chicken & game, fish, oriental, continental and from the grill as well as the vegetarian menu. We have an extensive choice of white and red wines to compliment your meal and also offer a children's menu. The majority of our mouthwatering desserts are home made. Ord House Hotel Telephone: 01463 870492 Country-house hotel with an elegant dining room where wide-ranging, creative menus are offered. Awarded one AA rosette. Dinner: £26 Takaways: Khan Tandoori; Finny’s Chippy Beauly
Beauly
Tandoori Restaurant
The Priory Hotel
01463
782309
Lovat Arms Hotel 01463 782313 Easter Kinkell
Kinkell
House Hotel
Tel:
01349 861270
Tulloch Castle Hotel
Tel: 01349 861325
What to eat Scots beef is delicious, especially the Aberdeen Angus breed, though Highland cattle are also rated for their depth of flavour. Scots farmers, aware of the standards their produce has reached, have preciously guarded their stock from the recent troubles associated with BSE and foot and mouth disease. Venison, the meat of the red deer, also features large – low in cholesterol and very tasty, it's served roasted or in casseroles, often cooked with juniper and red wine. Other forms of game are quite often encountered, including grouse, which when cooked properly is strong, dark and succulent; pheasant, a lighter meat; pigeon and rabbit.
Scottish fish and shellfish are the envy of
Europe, with a vast array of different types of fish, prawns, lobster,
mussels, oysters, crab and scallops found round the extensive Scottish
coastline. Fresh fish is normally available in most coastal towns, as well
as the big cities, where restaurants have well-organized supply lines.
Elaborate dishes are sometimes concocted, though frankly the simplest
seafood dishes are frequently the best. The prevalence of fish farming, now
a significant industry in the Highlands and Islands, means that the
once-treasured salmon is widespread and relatively inexpensive – its pale
pink flesh is still tasty enough, though those concerned about the
environment might want to favour fish sourced from carefully managed farms,
while some connoisseurs keep an eye out for the more delicately flavoured
(and more expensive) wild salmon. Both salmon and trout, another commonly
farmed fish, are frequently smoked and served cold with bread and butter.
Herring, once the staple fish in Scotland, is still popular in some parts
fried in oatmeal or "soused" (pickled).
Another local product to enjoy an upsurge in popularity
recently is cheese, which you'll find in a number of specialist shops
and delis, while many restaurants make a point of serving only Scottish
cheeses after dinner. The types on offer cover a wide spectrum: look out in
particular for Isle of Mull, a tangy farmhouse cheddar; Dunsyre Blue, a
Scottish Dolcelatte; or farmhouse Dunlop, the local version of cheddar.
Scotland is notorious for its sweet tooth, and cakes
and puddings are taken very seriously. Bakers with extensive displays
of iced buns, cakes and cream-filled pastries are a typical feature of any
Scottish high street, while home-made shortbread, scones or tablet (a hard,
crystalline form of fudge) are considered great treats. Among traditional
desserts, "clootie dumpling" is a sweet, stodgy fruit pudding bound in a
cloth and cooked for hours, while the rather over-elaborate Cranachan, made
with toasted oatmeal steeped in whisky and folded into whipped cream
flavoured with fresh raspberries, or the similar Atholl Brose, are
considered more refined. In the summer months, Scottish berries, in
particular raspberries and strawberries, are particularly tasty.
One Scottish institution that refuses to die out is
high tea, consisting of a cooked main course and a plethora of cakes,
washed down with lots of tea and eaten between about 5 and 6.30pm.
As for fast food, fish and chips are as popular as
in England, and chip shops, or "chippies", abound, the best often found in
coastal towns within sight of the fishing boats tied up in harbour.
Deep-fried battered fish is the standard choice – when served with chips
it's known as a "fish supper", even if eaten at lunchtime – though
everything from hamburgers to haggis suppers are normally on offer, all
deep-fried, of course. Scotland is even credited with inventing the
deep-fried Mars bar (a caramel-chocolate bar coated in batter and fried
in fat), the definitive badge of a nation with the worst heart-disease
statistics in Europe. For alternative fast food, the major towns feature all
the usual pizza, burger and baked potato outlets, as well as Chinese,
Mexican and Indian takeaways.
Restaurant owners: email me if you want your establishment listed on this page or if you would like a link to your own website angus@bigskylodges.co.uk
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