Guests to Scotland’s West Coast will uncover that this area has a wealthy native larder to supply which features a wealth of seafood. With the Atlantic on the doorstep, the West Coast is famend for the unrivalled high quality of its seafood, from lobsters, langoustines, prawns and scallops to salmon, halibut and a variety of shellfish. Whereas a few of the finest seafood “shacks” (providing native seafood) are nice for satisfying your urge for food when you find yourself out and about throughout the day, there may be nothing that may beat a effective eating expertise within the night in a fastidiously chosen restaurant.

Scottish farmers take delight in rising contemporary, seasonal native produce, so it comes as no shock that head cooks of award-winning eating places both have their very own kitchen backyard or purchase at one of many many farmers markets that are held recurrently throughout the nation. Most of us have already heard expressions like “from farm to fork” or “from park to plate” and lots of comparable phrases which spotlight the freshness and native origin of our meals. Since eating in Scotland is just a food-lover’s dream and possibly your waistline nonetheless permits for some further culinary delights, let me share with you my prime 5 eating places on the West Coast of Scotland.

1887 Restaurant, The Torridon Lodge (3 AA Rosettes)

The Torridon may be very happy with their location with its surrounding mountains and lochs on the Northwest coast, nonetheless, the homeowners Dan and Rohaise are even prouder of the Torridon farm, the place they rear their very own livestock and a bounty of produce. Decrease and Higher Loch Torridon offers lobsters, langoustines and crabs in addition to fish. Their intensive two-acre kitchen backyard permits the pinnacle chef to work with the seasons. The outcome are menus which counterpoint their sturdy perception in “area to fork”.

The 1887 Restaurant bought its identify from the yr when the resort was constructed as a taking pictures lodge for the Earl of Lovelace. Following a redesign in February 2020, the restaurant now exemplifies up to date class. The Scots pine-panelled eating room and conservatory is the proper place to take pleasure in beautiful meals, an intimate eating expertise in a surprising location. The chef believes in maintaining it easy and letting the flavour and provenance of the meals do the speaking.

Inverlochy Fort Restaurant (3 AA Rosettes)

The realm round Inverlochy Fort is wealthy in breath-taking panorama such because the Steall Falls in Glen Nevis, the Glenfinnan Monument in Glen Shiel and Glencoe, a distant and delightful glen. I’ve learn that in a visit in 1873 to Balmoral, her summer time residence, Queen Victoria spent per week at Inverlochy sketching and portray. She wrote in her diary: “I by no means noticed a lovelier or extra romantic spot”. Nestling within the foothills of the mighty Ben Nevis, Inverlochy Fort provides the vacation of a lifetime in one among Scotland’s best citadel accommodations.

Every of the three eating rooms at Inverlochy Fort are adorned with elaborate interval furnishings gifted to the Fort by the King of Norway. There’s a distinctive environment in these stunning environment. Eating at “Michel Roux Jr. at Inverlochy Fort” is a culinary expertise to look ahead to and easily take pleasure in. The late Albert Roux’s son, successor of this French culinary dynasty, is on the helm within the kitchen. The menus, which in fact embody vegetarian and vegan choices, characteristic fashionable delicacies with French influences which had been awarded AA 3 Crimson Rosettes. Gents are requested to put on a jacket within the eating room and girls are welcome to decorate up!

Isle of Eriska Restaurant (1 Michelin Star)

The Isle of Eriska Lodge is surrounded by the magnificent Morvern Mountains with a number of Munros (mountains over 3,000 ft) and provides beautiful views of Loch Linnhe. You get an actual sense of peace and quiet when strolling round this non-public island which is accessible solely by a slender bridge. The Isle of Eriska is on the mouth of Loch Creran within the coronary heart of West Argyll on Scotland’s West Coast, roughly 12 miles north of Oban and 40 miles south of Fort William.

The resort’s eating room truly includes 4 rooms: the morning room with its views over the lawns to the south, the enterprise room which catches the morning solar, the butler’s pantry in between the opposite two and the conservatory which was added in 2002. The Michelin restaurant at Isle of Eriska is open to non-residents to take pleasure in a effective eating expertise. It’s advisable, subsequently, to ebook your desk prematurely every morning so you possibly can strive a special dish day by day.

The Airds Restaurant (3 AA Rosettes)

For foodies and nature lovers the Airds Lodge is the proper romantic getaway. A charmingly transformed 18th-century ferry inn located in Port Appin simply north of Oban, the Airds boasts a stupendous waterside location with dramatic views of mountains and lochs. Seafood is often the dish of the day, as a result of the resort has an abundance of fish and prawns on its doorstep. Meals are superbly ready by the skilled chef and served to you within the Airds Restaurant which has been awarded 3 AA Rosettes.

The seasonal dinner menu provides a special alternative day by day. The Airds achieved suggestions within the esteemed Michelin Information in 2021 and a Gold Award with Eat Scotland. It has additionally appeared within the Good Meals Information for 43 years! The Restaurant additionally provides a tasting menu which is extraordinarily common. The distinctive type of the Restaurant is emphasised by crisp white desk linen, contemporary flowers and a romantic candle-lit environment in addition to an à la carte menu presenting the perfect of contemporary native seafood and famend Scottish meat and sport.

Lock 16, Crinan Lodge (roof prime restaurant)

For over 300 years there was an inn on the positioning of the Crinan Lodge on the finish of the Crinan Canal in Argyll on Scotland’s stunning West Coast. Right this moment it’s a magnificently eccentric resort sitting above the sixteenth and final lock of the Canal, on the waterfront of Loch Crinan, simply 6.5 miles from Lochgilphead. It has additionally turn into a magnet for a lot of of Scotland’s prime artists who keep, paint and exhibit recurrently. Frances Macdonald, who reveals on the Portland Gallery in London and the Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh, is the resident artist and the proprietor of the Lodge.

Jumbo prawns (langoustines) are landed 22 yards from the resort kitchen at 5pm, simply in supper time. Whereas the Westward Restaurant (Michelin Really useful in 2018) serves scrumptious fare like lobsters and Colonsay oysters and regionally sourced natural produce, the Crinan Seafood Bar is a extra casual alternative, however nonetheless with great meals. “Lock 16” is probably the most well-known seafood restaurant which has received many accolades together with finest seafood restaurant within the UK. Due to its distinctive location on the roof of the resort with unbelievable views in direction of the Atlantic it’s open solely throughout the summer time on Friday and Saturday evenings for dinner. For personal events, nonetheless, it’s open at any time.

Among the accommodations I’ve described will be simply mixed in a rare foodie tour of Scotland. For instance, friends can fly into Glasgow or Edinburgh and begin with a waterside keep on the Crinan Lodge, higher often known as a »Gallery with Rooms« as a result of it’s owned by a well known artist. When travelling additional north alongside the coast of the Western Highlands, guests can select between the Airds Lodge & Restaurant with its 3 AA Rosettes, the Michelin Star restaurant on the Isle of Eriska Lodge by itself non-public island, or the Michel Roux Jr. Restaurant at Inverlochy Fort close to Fort William. The ultimate vacation spot of this culinary vacation could possibly be the 1887 Restaurant on the Torridon Lodge, earlier than friends catch their return flight from Inverness Worldwide Airport.

Whereas touring Scotland in type from Glasgow or Edinburgh alongside the West Coast from Crinan to Torridon in a chauffeur-driven limousine, travellers can even take pleasure in the next sights and extra actions:

• Crinan: boat journeys to the Isle of Jura (gin and whisky distilleries) and the Gulf of Corryvreckan (the second largest pure whirlpool on the planet), traditional yacht charters and artwork masterclasses, prehistoric standing stones and carved rocks at Kilmartin Glen
• Oban/Fort William space: Oban Distillery Secrets and techniques Tour, scenic flights over the West Coast from Oban Airport at North Connel, day cruises to Mull, Iona and Staffa, Glencoe as a movie location for Bond’s “Skyfall”, steam prepare journey throughout the Glenfinnan Viaduct (seen in Harry Potter movies)
• Torridon: Hebridean Whale Cruises, Inverewe Gardens, Corrieshalloch Gorge, Beinn Eighe Nature Reserve, Bealach na Bà (winding single monitor mountain move on the Applecross peninsula with spectacular views of the Isle of Skye)