Tour of Scotland

Completing our tour of the United Kingdoms, we are off to Scotland for a couple of weeks at the end of the month. (Somewhere, my Dad who was born in Glasgow is turning in his grave - Scotland in November! He was always happy to have left).

Not much on the Board, just a brief thread on Edinburgh, and one on Haggis, so I figured I would start a new one. Any recs?

I am not terribly optimistic about food quality given what I have read, though it does seem that the Scotsman and Herald have decent reviewers, so absent anything else I will likely work off that.

One very strange thing is a top 25 restaurant list in Scotland published about a year ago in the Scotsman. It links to reviews, some of which can best be described as lukewarm. Bizarre disconnect to have one reporter list a place as one of the best that the restaurant reviewer finds overpriced and mediocre. Bad editing and sloppy reporting?

I've got nothing helpful to say about restaurants, but if you haven't yet seen it, I'd strongly recommend the lovely movie "I Know Where I'm Going" : http://www.amazon.com/Know-Where-Going-Criterion-Collection/dp/B00004XQMY/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-2776482-7538324?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1191604031&sr=1-1 Seeing this romantic and beautiful film made us want to hop on the next plane to Scotland, but we haven't quite made it yet, and at any rate I suspect getting to the island that the movie revolves around (Colonsay) may be as challenging in real life today as it proved to be in the film, made some 50 years ago. But nonetheless it makes Scotland seem charming and endearing and terrifically beautiful, so see it before you go if you haven't already. I'm jealous.

We found great food in Scotland!
Lots of venison, lamb and seafood!

For our trip we flew into Glasgow, and drove counter clockwise through Edinburgh, up the coast to Aberdeen, then to Inverness, the north coast through Gairloch, to Plockton, Skye, Glencoe and finally into Glasgow city itself.

Our destinations were based on the CAMRA Good Beer Guide and I also used the Undiscovered Scotland website to find food-related destinations and stone circles.

Some highlights:

Beers from the Strathaven Brewery: especially the Trumpeter Stout (with a subtle twist of ginger that gives an almost anise like quality to the dark chocolatey dark roast porter. Strathaven is brewing in the mill house occupied previously by the Williams Bros/Heather Brewing before they moved to Alloa. They produced some of the finest ales we had in Scotland.
http://www.strathavenales.co.uk/

Fletchers of Auchtemuchty
http://seriouslygoodvenison.co.uk/
A veritable cornucopia of venison products
Here is a picture of the venison carpaccio (I think with an aged ewe’s milk cheese we pick up at a specialty cheeseshop)


Arbroath Smokies
A lovely white moist smoked fish (haddock), as good as smoked sturgeon from a NY deli in smooth smokiness. We got our first sample from Stuart's Fresh Fish in Arbroath, and she boned it for us. Here is a fish we took for breakfast the next day from another shop.


Berries
On our way to Catterline, we stopped at a pick your own berry farm 1 mile north of Montrose which had both gooseberries and geese.



Creel Inn Catterline
http://www.thecreelinn.co.uk/
Excellent meal including a crab soup with large chunks of crab,
Pheasant, rabbit, venison & pigeon pate in a peach fennel jam sauce
Lamb with sweetbreads in a rich honey, sherry & vinegar reduction
and Scallops with Black Pudding and Cumin Mashed peas. Both the peas and the pudding had a lovely indian profile (cinnamon and cumin). They also had an excellent beer selection including both real ales and Belgians and a lovely cliffside view.



This was one of only a few “high end” dining experiences, a lot of our meals were of classic pub food – or snacking on sausage and cheese selections purchased from markets.

The Redgarth
A great pub stop is The Redgarth in Oldmeldrum, which in the vicinity of several stone circles and cairns. The Redgarth has won several CAMRA Pub of the Year awards. We had a stick to your ribs mac and cheese (with almost more cheese than mac!) and some fine Pork & Stilton sausages. Both very good and above average pub food.


Cawdor Tavern
On the way to Inverness, in Cawdor, is the Cawdor Tavern. The owner of this pub owns both Atlas and Orkney breweries – these are wonderful craft beers, and the food at the pub matched the beer quality. Perfectly pink mussels in ale & cream, sticky BBQ duck and a Trio of puddings (black, white and haggis, with rhubarb compote (I think). I loved all three puddings including the haggis. All had a profile reminiscent of American stuffing. Yum. All were excellent examples of their form. If you like lamb sausage, don’t be scared of haggis. Its delicious!




One mile south of Inverness (Eastfield Way 1 ml down A96 at the Inverness Retail Park) at the there is a Tesco Extra that had the best beer selection we found in Scotland. Tesco contracts award winning beers from the GABF under exclusive rights – at first we did not believe that the supermarket would be the place to go, but it is! 2 full aisles, sorted by ales and lagers. Also sausage, pie and lamb aisles that made be want to move to Scotland on the spot. And cheese. Glorious aged cheddar.

The Anderson
http://www.theanderson.co.uk/
A bit north of Inverness on Black Isle is the Anderson. This venture is owned by a couple of beer aficionados from Philadephia. Fine food and an excellent beer (mainly bottled, but extensive including beer we cannot get in the states) selection. We had an Inveralmond Independance ale from cask and a Budvar dark from the bottle. Don’t miss the chance to try a Belgian Guinness. Sweet, malty, fruity, strong. Another special treat was the Grimbergen Optimo Bruno (a 10% end of the evening kind of beer – dark, sweet, with a little green apple). For the meal we had tea smoked duck with scallop (notice the roe on this scallop and the ones at Catterline!), Corn crab soup, a venison and bacon “pudding” served with a rich gamey gravy, and angus steak tourenadoes served with mushrooms and stilton sauce. All were great.





Ben Nevis Inn (Near Ft. William and Inveray Castle)
http://www.ben-nevis-inn.co.uk/
This is a gorgeous stone converted barn at the head of the trail for the hike up Ben Nevis. Serves substantial fare and Atlas ales on handpump. Lamb shank braised in grainy mustard was melting apart delicious. The venison “pie” was a bit post-modern, with a fluff of puff pastry laid on top, but still good. Outside the lambs were clearly not as afraid of the spit as they should be – I would love to have seen this in use!




Grog & Gruel (In Ft. William)
http://www.grogandgruel.co.uk/
Excellent beer selection including many craft breweries – during our visits they included An Taelleach, Atlas, and Cairngorm (especially loved the Wildcat and the Black Gold)
Plus Orkney Dark Island was available on tap down the street at Nevisport.
Grog & Gruel also serves a top notch boar sausage with boar chili.


The best breakfast ever
Seeing all those fresh venison and lamb sausages was too much temptation. So we bought a single use grill and had a perfect breakfast of venison sausage, venison salami and some mature cheddar. Also, the bread here is called “tiger bread”. It is glazed with sesame oil which gives it a wonderful nutty, toasted aroma and flavor.


Mellis Cheese Shop
http://www.ijmellischeesemonger.com/
And, no culinary trip to Scotland would be complete without a trip to Mellis Cheese Shop. Locations in both Glasgow and Edinburgh, and both are excellent. We bought a cheese advertised as “the big daddy of all smoked cheeses. Tastes like a burnt tyre, but in a good way.” I think it may have been a smoked Ardrahan, It was smoky and not like burnt rubber at all (no bitterness or acridity). It had an aged brie like-texture. Strong, but smooth smoke with a washed rind funk. (I have enjoyed stinking bishop in the past, and this was mild in comparison).


Some misses, warnings and other thoughts:
Rental Car company: We had chosen Alamo/National because we thought there would be less hassle than with a local firm. Unfortunately not. They charged a 1000 pound deposit (unstated anywhere in reservation) upon arrival, and to date have not refunded us – without explanation. We have asked for one (from the 1-800 number) but they say they can’t get an info from the Scotland agent. This charge is of course under dispute, but avoid this stress and use another company.

The Old Inn at Gairloch does not serve meals all day. It serves sandwich fare in off hours.

In general, restaurant and pub meal hours might be even more restricted in winter.
Most of the destinations on Skye already had quite restricted hours even in summer. Bring snacks in case you fail to find anything open while touring!

We visited Plockton because of its proximity to Skye. Apparently this is a tourist destination due to some BBC show about a man and his dog? There are two places to eat in town, the Plockton Inn and the Plockon Hotel. We chose the former, and had a skate wing in black butter that was not deboned, and was a little ammonia-ey. We moved to the Plockton Hotel afterwards for drinks and traditional music. It looks like the food might have been better there…

Inverawe Smokery
Seemed legitimate, and not just a tourist front, but we bought some smoked fish that turned out to be past its prime when we unsealed the wrapper. Also the smoked haddock chowder we got for a snack on site had no evidence of fish, and might as well have been potato leek soup.

The Barn in Lerags
This was one of the best signposted destinations, and it really was 3 miles from the main road (as opposed to many other directions that were horribly off in calibration). The mussels I had were fine, but we also ordered venison steaks in a juniper and chocolate sauce that turned out to have been braised for a year. The sauce sounded great, but steaks should not be cooked that way and were dry and tough. Memories of your mother’s worst pot-roast that was forgotten in the oven.

Griffin's Wife,

Thank you so much for posting those beautiful pictures! I have family who lives in Scotland and they are very pleased to see some recommendations that they have near and dear to their hearts (Strathaven Brewery and the Redgarth).

It sounds like the culinary aspect of your trip was superb. Thanks for sharing!

Beautiful, GW. Any info on Stone Circles would be appreciated, too. Hope you don't mind if we steal lots of ideas.

It's been about ten years, but for fine dining, if you find yourself out west, the Airds Hotel in Port Appin has impeccable food made with local ingredients and all that jazz. Plus it's a beautiful location (although they pretty much all are in Scotland), in a small town right on Loch Linnhe. As you approach the hotel, you'll pass Castle Stalker, which you may recognize from the final castle scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Full disclosure: I worked there for a brief spell in '96. Another place in the area that was spoken of with high regard by the chefs was Inverlochy Castle.

dicksond wrote:Beautiful, GW. Any info on Stone Circles would be appreciated, too. Hope you don't mind if we steal lots of ideas.

No Problem!

We visited the tourist office in Inverurie, which offers directions to local stones. (This is near the Redgarth and Oldmeldrum)

We visited the Easter Aquhorthies Stone Circle. At the roundabout with the A96 and Blackhall Road, take the westmost exit (opposite direction from Inverurie), go through another new roundabout and keep going west, (continue straight when the road veers left) stay on this single track until you see a car park on the left. Proceed on foot to the top of the hill (up the farm road -- at this point its well signed, but not before) to the stone circle.

In the area there is another stone circle: Loanhead of Daviot which is directly off the main road that runs through the village of Daviot (it is on the north side of the "town". Some remains of other stone circles and many Pictish Stones are nearby, some in the Inverurie Kirkyard, plus the Brandsbutt Pictish Stone, the Maiden Stone. This site has some links and maps that seem to work! (Be sure to buy a good map of Scotland)
http://www.megalithia.com/sites/nj731208.html

We also visited the Clava Cairns near Inverness, Cawdor Castle and the Culloden Battlefield. This was much more touristed, partially due to its proximity to these other attractions, but also because it was really an impressive and well preserved site.
http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/i ... index.html

Other corrections to the above -- it is the winners from GBBF (the great British beer festival) and not the GABF that TESCO contracts.

Dark Island (a lovely beer from Orkney) was on cask, not on tap at Nevisport (and both it or the other dark beer from Orkney, Dragonhead Stout, are worth seeking out)

The castle near Ft. William is Inverlochy (not Inveray) This was free to explore -- with so many free ruins, we did not go to places that charged admission.

Have a great trip!
It should be a lovely time for dark beers in Scotland (if you are not a whiskey drinker, or want a break from it)

Thanks GW. I am actually not much of a beer drinker, and only somewhat more a whiskey drinker. But in my travels elsewhere in the UK I found that it was best to go with the local quaff, so in Scotland I expect to be both a whiskey and a beer drinker. And I will bring home some whiskey.

Will look for the circles for sure.

I suspect this report will be in multiple parts, as it will be fairly long [edited to better represent my intent, if not the likely outcome].

The headline is simple - the food in Scotland was very good. Much better than Ireland, England or Wales, though I suppose some of that could have been my approach to things. But also, I found the variety, the use of seasoning (a terrible weakness in the rest of the British Isles) and the overall quality to be much higher.

We started in Stirling, to decompress after a day in the air. Our first meal was across the car park from the Castle at the Portcullis Inn. It was a cozy pub, and my steak and ale pie was very good and filling. That evening we were too tired to even sit up at a restaurant so we picked the first likely carry out - the Hot and Spicy on Baker Street - to grab some curry. My chicken tikka biryani was generous and tasty.

We were off to a good start. I also can commend our B&B that night, the Castlecroft at the base of the castle. Easy to walk all around town, comfortable, friendly helpful hosts, and a good breakfast. The next day we wandered about west Fife which was pleasant enough, but the food was much more catch as catch can and nothing very good. We did manage to find a chain that was the Scottish equivalent of TGIFriday, because it was 8pm on a Saturday and the only place we could get into, but I am trying to blank out that memory.

The next morning we headed up, north and into the highlands. Following the lead of Griffin's Wife, I had done some research on the best food pubs (great tip, GW) and so headed up to the Moulin Inn, just outside Pitlochry whch is halfway up the middle of Scotland from Stirling. Cozy place, old booths with high dividers, they brew their own ale, and put out a wonderful meal. This was the beginning of the Bride's two week feast of mussels (usually Skye mussels) and I also had my fair share of seafood, in this instance grilled pickerel with cream and shrimp. Finished with the bread and butter pudding, all washed down with the Braveheart Ale, medium body, fresh and tangy. Great meal.





After lunch we found our way to the Dunfallandy Stone which is quite nice, but totally encased in glass so a bit difficult to see late in the day with the combination of glaring sunlight and shadows. Still, a wonderful stop.

From there we more or less followed the path of many of Queen Victoria's tours through the Highlands - up past Blair Castle (closed for the season in what was to be another theme of the trip - be advised that outside of the major cities, most of the tourist attractions of Scotland close at the end of October for maintenance) with its lovely forest park, and then straight up and east over the hills through the pastures and on to a town that really exists only because it was a Victorian resort, Ballater. Here we pampered ourselves with a stay at the Balgonie Inn, a lovely old house run by the chef and his wife, but the gem here was Moira, who was attentive and endlessly informative whether it was about the aspects of different malts, the best places to see ancient stone monuments, or where and what to eat.

The food and drink at Balgonie was very good, and generous. The price was certainly at a point where it was unarguably upscale, and while the hospitality was excellent, and there were numerous lovely touches, including the selection of malts, great wine, the perfect tea service with freshly made biscuits and shortbread, and the marvelous breakfasts, the dinners left me slightly disappointed. Some spotty execution, some, less than interesting seasoning - not bad meals, but expensive and not memorable. Still a great time.








The last two pictures, of the sticky pudding with butterscotch sauce and coconut ice cream, and the smoked haddock poached in milk, were the best dishes of the visit, but I am probably being too harsh.

From there we headed further east, stopping at The Millers in Midmar for lunch and a bit of shopping. This is basically a Scottish Farm and Fleet with a restaurant and a bit of a gourmet food store added on. Had a satisfying pea soup, egg mayonnaise sandwich (egg salad for us) and a more mediocre carrot cake.

Up the hill was a recumbent circle in the Midmar churchyard. Found the circles a bit too tidy at times - the one thing I fault Scotland for is "insensitive restoration" or excessive tidying up. A number of castles, as well as stone circles and other monuments had been tidied up to the extent that I found the effect closer to Disneyland than anything else. Stiil, a few miles east on the B9119 ( a funny road that runs along the top of a ridge unlike most other roads and seems to have an old monument, be it a homestead, fort, stone circle or something else every few miles)at Sunhoney farm was the best recumbent circle and monument of the trip. Up the path, past the farms and the cattle, along a row to a circle of trees where we could watch the waning sun over a very untidy circle. Looks like the sun will align perfectly with the recumbent at sunset on the solstice, but it was close enough when we were there. Will try to add a picture here at some point.

More to come later.

One other thing about the Balgonie House - with breakfast they served something called a Deeside biscuit, which I think can best be described as a flat, circular croissant. Quite good.

On to Aberdeen from there. This was a day of food picked based on convenience. Had a serviceable lunch pretty much in the center at La Lombarda. Okay Pizza Staggioni and Taglioni with pesto. Pretty good minestrone. Dinner that night was in Dundee at The Italian. The food here was actually very good - olives to start, mussels in excellent tomatoey broth and a plate of hot smoked salmon with a good side of vegies. The Bride had some lousy, gooey stuffed mushrooms, and the house wine was awful, but otherwise it was a pretty good meal.

Working our way back to Edinburgh, we stopped for lunch the next day at the Waterfront in Anstruther (also the locale of an excellent Museum of fishing). Very nice view of the harbor, good fish and chips, and a massive, cheese and potato Fisherman's Pie. The seafood part of this was not so great, but if you like cheese and potatoes, it could easily feed two people.

That night we were back on the pub trail in Edinburgh, dining on the balcony of the Guidlford Arms (just off Princes Street in the New Town near Bridge Street). Since I had been told this was the height of Spring Lamb season, I jumped at the Lamb Chops in Mint Sauce. Served with both boiled potatoes and cumined baked plantains, with a mint sauce that was a savory gravy with a hint of mint, it was quite enjoyable. Good ale and soccer that night.





The Bride had a soup that began an interesting trend. Over half the places we visited were featuing a carrot and coriander soup that looked a bit like this.

The strange thing was that the other places offered different soups, but they almost all looked exactly the same Go figure.

The next day I had an amazing meal at the Point Hotel. Three courses for seven pounds (roughly $14). Very good food, and an amazing deal. Started with (surprise) smoked salmon. In Scotland they serve smoked salmon with lemon, and I found the combination quite enjoyable here. There was a drizzle of basil oil around the salmon along with the capers - with good bread and butter it was not too fancy but darned tasty.


The main course was a beef goulash with a horseradish dumpling. Rich deep and matched exceedingly well with the oak-aged ale from Innis & Gunn recommended by the waiter.



Dessert was the low point - an apple pie with a shortbread crust. Pretty well done, but I found the crust a little on the heavy and soggy side for my taste, though it was very pretty.


That night was the daughter's birthday dinner at Howie's on Victoria Street. I will not waste your time beyond this - my first Haggis was just fine, and the restaurant was not fine at all. On a higher note, the National Museum is spectacular, though I am not sure whether I like, or don't like, the layout. It seems to be laid out in something like a thematic narrative, but I kept getting lost. And I am not sure whether it is better to see the religious artifacts of the Vikings in the context of the religious artifacts of the Celts, Scots and Picts, or whether it would have been better to see them in the context of the other Viking artifacts. Plus I kept losing the narrative thread and finding myself suddenly in the midst of a different narrative and having to decide whether I wanted to go with the flow or figure out where I went wrong. Still, it was spectacular and thought-provoking.

The next morning we drove like hell to the Isle of Skye for the weekend. The drive, while absurdly long, was also constantly beautiful. The last two hours of highland lochs, mountainsides and mists were memorable.

Lunch at the Invergarry Hotel was quite good. Nothing fancy, but all fresh and good.

Carrot Coriander soup, creamy and tomatoey seafood soup just bursting with chunks of fish, shrimp and shellfish


A cheese baguette with pickles (really chutney, IMO) -yes sandwich fans, this is a good idea.


Rich Isle of Skye Ale, and the Bride sampled the baked potato with Marie Rose Prawns. Marie Rose being something akin to Russian Dressing, I guess. Everything included a side salad.


Fancy dinner that night at the Cuillin Hills Hotel in Portree on Skye was okay, not great. Give them credit for this - we ordered a half bottle of wine and it turned out they were out, so they gave us a full bottle at the same price. I did try Cullen Skink that night, which is a smoked haddock soup. Quite good. And my Venison managed to be picture perfect and relatively flavorless. On the other hand, the Baked Date and Walnut Pudding was excellent, but I do like my pudding.

The biggest disappointment of the trip was dinner at the Stein Inn on Skye, since it was touted to be just plain wonderful. The food was okay, but underseasoned. Good Scotch Broth.

Back in Edinburgh the next night and we had dinner at Kismot.. Shrimp Puri, Tandoori Roti, Chicken Jahlfrezie. Great.

Then off to Glasgow, which was in many ways the high point for me. I suppose it reminds me of Chicago, though of a different vintage. It also is where my father was born, so I was just trying to get a feel for that. Good food, excellent museums, the whole Charles Rennie Mackintosh thing.

Had lunch at the Drum and Monkey in the business district the first day - good ale, nice fish and chips and haggis.

Dinner at the Two Fat Ladies (original location - 88 Dumbarton Road) was the best meal of the trip. They started me with a Hendrick's Gin with a whisper of tonic. Then on to a pea soup with a nice touch of dried tomatos and nutmeg which looked surprisingly like carrot and coriander soup, as you can see


Seafood for the mains, mussels (again) in a basil, pancetta and tomato broth for the Bride.


My main was bliss, um I mean Grilled Langoustines in garlic and butter. generally am not a fan of grilled lobsters because they tend to dry out, but these little guys were perfect - tender, juicy, I took my time, cracked and sucked and was very happy.


Over my protests, the Bride selected a Black Cherry Pavlova to finish, and she was completely correct. Fresh meringue base, delectable black cherry cream and a garnish of berries. Gives you an idea of what this dessert can be when done right - I had no idea.


The funny thing is, this place was our second choice.

Nothing else was very memorable until the last night, back in Edinburgh at Oloroso, easily the fanciest and most expensive place of the trip. Great view, attentive service, the specialty is steaks. Grass-fed, Aberdeen beef. All very good, and the dessert gives you an idea of what we were dealing with. On balance, I would have preferred to go back to the Two Fat Ladies, or just to be in Glasgow in general, but it was good, no question.



(Blackberry tart, if you must know, with cinnamon ice cream).

And with that we bid a sad adieu to Scotland. Well, not quite - BA did treat me to a wonderfully workmanlike Bangers 'n Mash on the way home.

Bumping up this thread-
especially for any Edinburgh info-
will be on a Brendan tour in the fall- that focuses on film sites-
but will be building in some off-tour time in Liverpool, Edinburgh, and southern Ireland
Dublin, etc.
Thanks for any newer info -experiences

We had a great week in Edinburgh in 2014, and were pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to eat very well. The standouts that I recall are Castle Terrace (moderately upscale), The Gardener's Cottage (tiny, with outdoor seating in the garden), and The Scran and Scallie (gastropub in Stockbridge). Have fun!

I Love Edinburgh!! What a great city! Unfortunately, I have no recent recommendations for downtown edinburgh.

I'm not sure if you plan on venturing off into Scotland country side, but if you do, I highly recommend a stop/stay at the cross keys in Kippen. Great pub with terrific food, quaint rooms, and just a wonderful local feel! Also, the deli next store was one of the best sandwiches I have had in my life. The cheese, oooo the cheese. It is about an hour drive outside of the city.

The Cross Keys
Kippen
http://www.kippencrosskeys.com/

Bumping this here in 2019 for any potential new recommendations for Edinburgh!