ewx | Scotland food

Glasgow

Brian Maule at le Chardon d’Or. Well-presented and tasty roast duck, nearly skipped dessert but followed N's choice of crème brûlée and didn't regret it at all. Zippy service (though as walk-ins we only got the table on condition we gave it back quickly l-) £45/head for two courses, I think with wine though my notes don’t say.

Tchai-Ovna. Cosy atmosphere, vege food but the real point is the enormous variety of tea available. I had a Tchai Hel, an Iranian tea which the Internet knows next to nothing about, at least by that spelling. Would have more. £8/head for lunch with tea.

Stereo. Hipster central, loud and cheerful atmosphere. Convenient for our hotel and the central station. £10/head for pizza, probably with alcohol but my notes don’t say.

Amarone. Convenient for the Queen Street station and public transport endpoints. £17/head for a decent pizza and wine.

Loch Lomond

Martin Wishart at Loch Lomond. We had the tasting menu for Sunday lunch, the highlights for me were the mushroom and madeira velouté and the grouse, but nothing disappointed. Among the wine my notes say the Chateau Pibran and the Moscato d'Asti led the pack. £lots.

Mull

Isle Of Mull Hotel & Spa. My notes say “very tender steak”, I don’t know how much it cost because it went on the hotel bill...

MacGochans, Tobermory. Dense but perfectly tasty venison burger burger but good chips. £33.45 for two mains, coffee, one dessert.

Iona

Argyll Hotel. Excellent smokie salad starter, roast duck a bit sad (perhaps put into shade by memory of Brian Maule’s above?). Friendly and characterful staff. £48/head for three courses with wine.

St Columba Hotel. Tasty beefburger. £20/head for two course lunch.

Martyr’s Bay Restaurant. Unremarkable scampi but excellent chips. £21/head one course + alcohol + coffee.

Fort William

Lime Tree Hotel. The roast duck salad starter and the frozen strawberry daiquiri particularly shined but my chicken main was perfectly good too. Exact cost will be lost in the hotel bill somewhere but my notes say £45/head for three courses with wine.

The Grog and Gruel pub. Cosy surroundings, a good lunchtime pizza. £7/head if I'm reading my notes right which I may well not be.

Crannog. Very enjoyable salmon paté starter, also enjoyed the hake main course. £40/head for “3ish” courses with alcohol and (I think) coffee.

Skye

Red Skye. Remarkably convenient for our B&B (but otherwise a bit out of the way!) Introduced me to Cullen skink which was a welcome discovery, and produced excellent roast duck (more memorable than the Brian Maule version but I’m not sure whether that’s because more recent). £38/head for three courses with wine.

Caledonian Café, Portree. Good café food, nice ice cream constructions. Lunch £10/head, dinner £23/head for two courses with alcohol. (Plenty of other choices in Portree but somehow none of them grabbed us that day.)

Inverness

Café 1. Busy atmosphere, excellent food, about which I apparently made no further notes, but memory says I had the chicken liver paté, which was delicious, and the Argyll steak. £77 for 2 courses (me) plus 3 courses (N) with alcohol and coffee for both of us.

So Coco. Chocolatier and café, apparently lacking a website at the moment. The chocolates lured us back more than once l-)

All prices exclude service, to the extent that my notes can distinguish it!