We spent the week with my Mum & Dad so we had on-site babysitters.  So it would have been rude not to have some grown up time & go out for a meal.  To be honest I was just expecting a ‘locals’ pub with us being in a remote area.  So when Anthony told me that there was a rather nice hotel just 2 minute walk away I was quite impressed. Just down this road in fact…

He then went on to say that the Chef (Jason ‘Bruno’ Birkbeck) at the hotel was actually taking part in this years ‘Good British Menu’ programme on BBC.  Well you cant ask for much more than that in such a beautiful remote location.  The hotel in question is The Torridon & is set primarily at the luxury end of the budget but it also, cleverly, has an ‘Inn’ attached which offers B&B rooms with a pub. And a rather nice pub at that.

The first time we visited we went on a rainy afternoon & sampled the afternoon scones with a cup of tea.  The scones were warm & delicious. The *only* quibble we had was that the jam was served in plastic pots rather than homemade in a little pot. I know, just a little thing but we did notice!

Later in the week Anthony & I escaped for our evening out. After a quick drink in the bar we headed for some food – we had reserved a table & whilst it probably wasn’t necessary it did get busy so we would recommend to anyone wanting to go to call ahead & book.

The mussels that evening had been taken of the menu so I chose the sleepy hollow smoked salmon, caper
and shallot dressing with toasted muffin. Try saying (or typing that) after a glass of wine! It was really delicious & beautifully presented (apologies the photos were taken on my phone!) Anthony chose the Stornoway black pudding and apple stack, mixed leaf salad & cider reduction. Needless to say it didn’t stay on his plate for long.

The Mains were more difficult to choose  as they are more ‘pub grub’ in style, however after much to-ing and fro-ing I chose the scampi in a basket with chips, peas & homemade tartare sauce. YUM!

Anthony went for the predictable Torridon beef burger with fries, tomato relish and picallili plus the bacon & cheese. He really enjoyed every mouthful.

Despite the fact we were rather full by this point we decided to share a pudding because we were on holiday & we don’t get many meals out these days – this was an easy choice – sticky toffee pudding, butterscotch sauce & vanilla ice cream. Well…

I think you can see it was so delicious I forgot to take a photo. Seriously, I dont think lasted more than 60 seconds.

I should probably also mention, they are child friendly which is perfect for pubs in remote locations! The staff were really nice & helpful and we really would come back. The only downside? The 439 miles to get there and the 439 to get back.  Next time we get a chance to get up on the West Coast again I hope we will get a chance to visit. And if we win the lottery we’ll maybe stay at the hotel too!

The hotel are also on Twitter & I’d recommend a follow – they keep you updated with the weather & the fun their ‘Activities’ team are getting up too & some lovely photos.

We heard about it via Twitter when it opened but we only got round to visiting it today. We went for lunch but as we’d had a late morning we didn’t get there until just before 2pm so we were pleased to see that it was quite quiet (they are holding storytimes through the summer holidays & whilst we wanted child friendly we didn’t want anything overrun and too busy!)

We found a table & looked at the menu which can also be found on their website. There was a nice choice of lunches and Elodie picked something from the children’s menu so I went to order at the counter.

I had somehow managed to miss the massive large steps by the counter allowing children to get up & presumably ask for things & pay for themselves. A nice touch, but its a shame Elodie didn’t really get acknowledged by the staff given how quiet it was. Then the lady taking my order answered the phone, that’s usually fine but there was no apology or let somebody else answer it. You can probably tell by now that it didn’t give us the first impression we were expecting.

I took Elodie over to the small play area whilst we waiting for the food and drinks – it was a few playmats, toys, books, paper and pencils and small tables and seats. Simple but a nice touch & one that many parents would appreciate. My only gripe was that I couldn’t really leave Elodie there to play whilst I had a cup of tea as I couldn’t see her from the table. In fact there were only two, maybe three tables that were close enough to the play area.

Elodies food arrived first – 4 Toasted Cheesy Squares. Ok I presumed they would be ‘toasties’ but what arrived was cheese on toast cut into quarters and then alongside that a plate of cucumber slices which cost me an additional 75p! I like to give Elodie fresh salad or vegetables with lunch so felt slightly obliged to get some but she only ate a couple and we were left with the remaining 10!!  She enjoyed her cheese on toast though and we enjoyed our lunch as well – fresh coronation chicken sandwich & jacket potato.

The cafe use local produce were possible & the food was good quality. The salad was fresh and crispy which is seemingly rare these days.

We left feeling a bit underwhelmed by the experience, the staff were not rude, but neither were they happy. The food was tatsy and the quality was good but it was a bit on the pricey side.

The one thing that really *did* bug me, however, was the children’s party leaflet. Three options for parties that looked nice, food and drink included and a story at the end, time permitting! Then they mentioned the birthday cake.  You are not allowed to take in your own birthday cake. Seriously.  They deem themselves ‘professional bakers’ so ask that you don’t bring your own cake but instead they would be happy to  discuss you cake requirements. I’m sorry but that really made me angry. You may make fantastic cakes (I dont know we didn’t try one today) but at least give people the option.  You cant have a children’s birthday party without cake can you?

The overall impression was that they were trying to do too many things at once rather than pick one or two and make them really good. And that making as large a profit as possible was slightly too high on the agenda.

Saying that we would probably go back and try again but I dont think it will be a regular place to go and that’s maybe more of what we’d expected & have liked.

We spent a week in a really lovely holiday house in Annat which is just South of Torridon.  I will do another blog about our holiday but one of the highlights of our holiday was our quick visit to Nanny’s Shop. A fantastic little shop which was re-opened in 2008 by owners Lynn & Lisa.  The shop is quaint and stocks so many beautiful things. It also serves fresh coffee, fantastic cakes and you can even get some fresh smoked salmon (or order some fresh seafood for the next day if you get there in time).

The shop has a lot of history & I believe it is much unchanged from the previous owner, Nanny Grant, who had run the shop since 1950.  Before that her father (who built the shop in 1918) ran the shop when he had also been carrying on the family tradition.

It now attracts visitors from all over with its modern, chic interior and offers a really friendly service, quality gifts & fantastic food and all set in a beautiful location overlooking Loch Shieldaig. I mean, how lovely is this…

If you are in the area, we really would recommend a visit, a coffee and a cake!

The 15 filled chocolate eggs arrived quickly and well packaged in the post, so I can recommend their postal service if you want to order from their website :)

But getting to the good bit, the chocolates… well, unusually they lasted a few nights in the house which was a pleasant surprise, not because they were horrible – because they were too lovely & had to be savoured!

Our Top 3

Caramel Egg – delicious sweet runny caramel in a 50% milk chocolate shell, it tastes even better than it sounds

Vanilla Custard Egg – vanilla custard ganache in a milk chocolate shell, I could have eaten a whole box of these

Blueberry Egg - very fruity blueberry ganache in white chocolate, I am weary of fruity chocolate but this really tasted like fresh blueberries and went nicely with the smooth white chocolate shell

The Others

All the eggs were lovely and the chocolate shells are nice and thick so you get a good chocolate fix with each one.  The strawberry egg was another fresh fruity surprise in white chocolate and the caramel praline egg tasted like a Ferrero Roche encased in a caramel chocolate shell nom nom nom…

The only downside to this box is that there are 15 chocolates in each box and 8 flavours so there weren’t two of every flavour.  We had 5 pairs, one triple selection (Caramel, yummy) but two came on their own & I dont like sharing ;)

Competition – Would you like to win a Hotel Chocolat H Box?

We can really recommend this box so if you would like to win a box for yourself all you need to do is ‘Like’ the Hotel Chocolat Facebook page or follow them on Twitter & come back and leave me a comment below to let me know you have done it – please leave me your Twitter name and/or a way to contact you.  I will than randomly pick a winner after the closing date on 26th March 2011.  Good Luck!

The Punch Bowl was named Pub of the Year by ‘Michelin Pub Guide 2009′ and after looking at their luxurious accommodation on their website we couldn’t resist a bit of R&R…

The overnight rate included Afternoon Tea upon arrival and Breakfast.  We hadn’t appreciated this until we actually booked in so it was a nice surprise.

From the off, the staff were really lovely.  Not too much, nor too little – just friendly, welcoming and very helpful.  After checking in, we were shown to our room and left to our own devices.  If we had realised that Afternoon Tea was included we may have arrived a little bit earlier so we decided to enjoy it before it was dinner time! We sat downstairs in the pub/lounge area and two scones, jam and cream were served alongside a refreshing pot of tea (using tea leaves, not teabags).

After returning to our room and checking on Elodie, we decided to enjoy the bathroom facilities…

I think I spent an hour relaxing in that bath with the Arran Aromatics goodies.

After dragging myself out of the bath, we eventually got ready for dinner and headed down to the restaurant.  We ordered a lovely bottle of Chardonay and looked over the menu.

When we had ordered, the usual nibbles of fresh bread and butter arrived along with a wonderfully fragrant smell which I presumed was someones food.  Until I picked up a small slice of the Rye bread that was.  It turned out that the bread was a homemade rye bread with, what I presume, was aniseed as it had a lovely liqorice taste and smell.  The other slices of bread were nice but the rye was something else.  I wanted to buy some, so when I found out it was their own I was slightly disappointed.

For starters, I enjoyed a twice baked cheese souffle and Anthony tried his first carpaccio of beef served with pine nuts, parmesan, balsamic vinegar and green leaf.  The souffle was nice, simple and light. I tried the carpaccio but have to admit its not a dish for me, though I dont really eat much red meat.  Anthony was unsure to start with, but by the end decided he really enjoyed it.

For the main course, I opted for Halibut (after enjoying it at 60 Hope Street) served with cockles and shrimp whilst Anthony couldn’t resist a Steak with bearnaise sauce.  The option of sauce was limited to peppercorn or bearnaise and Anthony had not tried bearnaise before so thought he would try it – he barely ate it though as it was far too buttery.  I am sure it was served correctly, but the sauce was just too much.  The Halibut was delicious and the Steak itself was perfectly cooked.

We had no room for pudding, probably due to the fact we had enjoyed Afternoon Tea late in the afternoon, but we did manage to drink a lovely bottle of Veuve Cliquot in our room and taste a few of the Hotel Chocolat chocolates Anthony had bought whilst relaxing on the lovely bed and watching Desperate Housewives!

I have to say, though, the best bit was still to come.  There is something about Hotel Breakfasts, whether its just the novelty of all the choices or the fact that there is usually some scrambled egg and smoked salmon on the menu, I dont know?

Anyway, we were not disappointed and after being seated and passed the menu the scrambled eggs with smoked salmon were indeed on the menu, served on crumpets.  Anthony ordered a full English.

The scrambled egg was the best I am yet to sample.  The salmon was delicious and to my surprise the crumpets turned out to be the perfect accompaniment.  Anthony was not disappointed with his choice either.  Unfortunately we didnt take the camera to breakfast :(

I really would recommend The Punch Bowl to anyone and everyone.  It is a delightful, friendly and welcoming Pub with fantastic, luxurious accommodation and I would not hesitate going back (even just for breakfast) though I think I’d have to take Elodie as I missed my cuddles…

On arriving we went downstairs to the Bistro/Bar area and ordered a drink, this was the only sneaky tactic I didn’t like as our table was ready and waiting when we arrived, but some restaurants do have a bad habit of getting you to order a drink before ordering wine for the table.

When we were eventually seated (we played a game of musical chairs first!) the Maître d’ came over and handed out the menu’s.  He then theatrically read aloud the days ‘specials’.  We’re not sure if he was new and performing with much enthusiasm or is always so entertaining, but with much gusto he detailed the dishes brilliantly.

It took us a while to eventually decide on what to order but I think between us we sampled quite a few of the dishes.  To start I ordered Scallops in pastry with red pepper & aioli and Anthony eventually decided on the Assiette of Duck.

The scallops were fantastic and cooked beautifully. Personally, I didn’t think they needed the puff pastry or anchovies contained within. The scallops and aioli would have been good on their own.

Anthony thoroughly enjoy the Assiette of Duck and I have to agree, the best of the three would be the spring roll.

We both also tried an oyster for the first time and we’d definitely order some again  if we get the chance – the texture was not what we were expecting and coming from Anthony (not a fishy person) that is quite something!

For the main course I chose Halibut served with Roast Salsify, Popcorn Shrimp, Butternut Squash Puree and White Wine Veloute.  Anthony couldn’t resist the Venison served with Haggis Fritter.

I hadn’t tasted halibut before and I have to admit the Popcorn Shrimp caught my attention – I am very glad they did as the fish was beautiful. It just melted in your mouth and together with the roast salsify and white wine veloute it was fantastic.

Anthony ordered the Venison medium and it was cooked perfectly. Again, melted in your mouth. The haggis fritter was like a creamy melt in your mouth mousse but crispy on the outside – amazingly delicious.

We managed to squeeze in a pudding and I chose the Chocolate Tart with Orange & Honeycomb and Anthony had a 60 Hope Street Signature Dish, Deep Fried Jam Sandwich with Carnation Ice Cream.

I was quite full at the point but it seemed rude not to join in. Again though I felt the chocolate tart did not need the pastry, in fact I left some.  The chocolate part of the tart was more like a chocolate fondant than a cold filling like I had expected.  A bitter orange mousse was served alongside the tart in a shot glass and was very nice with the fondant-like filling.

The Signature Dish, a Deep Fried Jam Sandwich with Carnation Ice Cream went down a treat, unsurprisingly! Everyone on the table managed a taste of this jam doughnut style pudding.  The rest, Anthony ate very quickly.  Need I say anymore?!

Overall, we’d definitely go back again if the chance arises.  The restaurant itself was lovely, warm and modern.  The tables weren’t squashed in or overlooked. A lovely dining experience, some very lovely food and a really nice evening.

As you will know, we came to Aviemore to celebrate our first wedding anniversary and for a couple of weeks before I had been googling various ideas to find somewhere special to enjoy a meal. I had found a few ideas before getting up here but nothing that jumped out at me. So when I read the above review in the booklet I had to Google it and was very pleasantly surprised. The Cross entices you by telling you that ‘Dinners are served by an open fire in the stone walled and wood beamed restaurant. Menus feature carefully prepared fresh and seasonal produce and the wine list is one of the best in the UK‘ it continues ‘The Good Food Guide has rated The Cross as one of the six best places to eat in the Scottish Highlands and Trip Advisor ranks The Cross as #1 in the area. Recommended in all other independent guidebooks, including Michelin, The Good Hotel Guide, Scotland the Best (upgraded to two ticks for 2008!), Rough Guide, Lonely Planet, and Fromers‘

Further, it comments that ‘we use only the finest fresh produce, locally sourced where possible. Game from local estates, Highland beef, Shetland lamb, prime fish from Scrabster, and shellfish from Skye. Wild mushrooms picked locally, soft fruits from Alvie Estate and cheeses from Mull and Galloway‘

The only downside was that it doesn’t open on a Sunday or Monday and our anniversary was the Sunday, so whilst we went out for a nice meal on our anniversary itself we also booked a table for two at The Cross for Thursday evening.

When we arrived we were very warmly welcomed and thus started a truly special meal.

The whole service was provided by the owners who were assisted by a couple of chefs back in the kitchen. We started with olives whilst pondering the menu. The olives were the best we’ve tasted in some time, slightly flavoured with rosemary. We were then given some homemade sour dough bread and unsalted butter.

Whilst enjoying these nibbles we were enjoying the quiet surroundings and a warming log fire quietly crackling away in the background. There was only one other couple dining and a chap on his own who we thought may have been reviewing the food as he was scribbling in his notebook the whole time!
Next to arrive was the appetiser – a small cappuccino cup full of Jerusalem artichoke soup with a drizzle of truffle oil. It may have been small but it was truly delicious and warming – I could have enjoyed a whole bowl of the soup on its own and been a very happy lass but it just kept getting better…

Next was our first course. I had chosen the tian of kyle of lochalsh langoustines, avocado & vine tomato and Anthony chose the seared breast of scottish woodpigeon, date puree and goats cheese emulsion.

I really enjoyed the fresh langoustines and had a small taste of the woodpigeon and goats cheese emulsion, which just melted in your mouth. I dont think I could eat much of the pigeon myself, but Anthony really enjoyed every mouthful and said he would pick it again.

Onto the mains, we both chose roast breast of organic highland chicken, vine tomato fondue, leeks and peas with garlic mash. The chicken melted in your mouth it was just perfectly cooked. The tomato fondue was simple but the flavour was really rich. The garlic mash, again, just melted in your mouth – this is one mash I will by trying to recreate at home soon!

For dessert, Anthony had to try the hot chocolate fondant with chilli ice cream. He seems to have been craving chilli chocolate recently so this definitely put a smile on his face.

I, on the other hand, couldn’t resist the creme caramel, caramelised spiced bananas with creme brulee ice cream. Not being a huge fan of banana I was very pleasantly surprised, they were very lightly spiced and truly delicious. The creme caramel and crunchy creme brulee ice cream were really creamy.

The portion sizes throughout the meal were absolutely spot on. We both finished each plateful and as we finished the meal with coffee and petit fours we decided that we were just nicely full. And as I mentioned earlier, the service through out was just right. Food and service arriving just at the right time, food was introduced to us at each course and both proprietors knew everything about the food and where it came from.

At £45 per person we felt that we got extremely good value for money. The only down side being that the credit card machine didn’t have an option for service which we would have most gladly left. However the menu did state that the cost per person included service and tax. Either way we came away knowing that we will return at the drop of a hat next time we are up here, whenever that will be!

It was most definately one of the best meals we have devoured and would both heartily recommend it to anyone looking for genuinely good, well sourced food by people who obviously love it even more.

Ps. Again, apologies for lack of food pictures – I really wish we’d taken the camera with us.

On Friday evening a made a rather enjoyable dinner of sole goujons with dill mayonnaise and a buttery jacket potato. It was surprisinglyeasy to make – the sole goujon recipe is from Nigella Express.

On Saturday evening we ate out at Est Est Est at the Albert Dock. We had reasonably high expectations as we spent 06/07 New Year’s Eve there & it was really nice. Unfortunately last night the staff & food let the lovely surroundings down. My porcini risotto was a very small portion, in the largest ever bowl & Hubby’s pizza came covered in mushrooms – which it did not mention on the menu but we were out for a friends birthday & having everyone together was really nice. Afterwards we just about managed to grab a seat at the Pump House pub as we seemed to finish the meal at the same time as Ringo & Co. who had officially opened the Liverpool Echo Arena next door.

Tonight we ate at my parents again as its my brothers birthday tomorrow – but unfortunately he has been poorly so we ended up enjoying a creamy chicken & tarragon pie followed by marmalade pudding without him :( (Happy Birthday for tomorrow Michael xx)

We were quite lucky with our seats – very central & not too far back considering the number of seats they cram in! Anyway, the show was great. Jamie was very funny & there was lots of crowd interaction. He made three dishes. The first was hot smoked salmon in the biscuit tin – the smell of the salmon cooking was really fabulous. He then went on to make a warm chicken Cesar salad which looked divine. To top this off he made a beef stroganoff with mushrooms with a little help from his mushroom hero Gennaro Contaldo.

We also came across Gordon Ramsay, Rachel Allen, the Hairy Bikers, Angela Hartnett, Matt Skinner and Brian Turner.
We went on a wine masterclass - by mistake we booked one held by the Ian Harvey of the Birmingham Post Wine Club when we had wanted to go to the Matt Skinner one – but it turned out well & we tasted six South American wines. Hubby enjoyed this bit the most. I think he see’s himself becoming a wine connoisseur.

Tasting highlights
These included a pork pattie care of Jimmy’s Farm. Coming from a not-really-a-meat-eater I have to hold my hands up and say it was delicious. And thanks to Jules we may just have to order some from the online shop.

I also tasted a veggie pie & mash from Blenheim House – this was nice but the gravy was delicious. And we both had a ‘Duo of rich Belgian truffle’ which didn’t last more than 60 seconds – hence the half eaten one in the photograph!
We sampled some of Walkers warm, freshly cooked crisps. You added you own toppings – salt, pepper, chilli & rosemary etc.

I’ve also found a soft spot for Sloe Gin. We will hopefully be purchasing some of this soon to make cranberry sauce.

It was also very nice to see Gordon & Macphail of Elgin at the show. The shop in Elgin is really lovely with a room dedicated to whisky and then a room full of wines and spirits and a third room with delicatessen type goods.

Overall it was a really lovely day out & we may have to go back another year.

• had a lovely walk through the Glenlivet Estate
• saw snow on the top of Cairngorm (it was -4° one night)
• Mr C played golf at Craggan and I was official photographer/videographer and scorekeeper
• went on a horse trek through a forest
• Mr C watched Elgin City beat East Stirling 6-0
• visted two distilleries and one organic brewery
• ate out lots

The first night we stayed over in Perth & went into town to eat – Mr C gave me a Pizza Express club membership so we headed off there. We both had dough balls to start and then I had my usual Fiorentina pizza & Mr C had a Pollo ad Astra.

The next morning we headed North up the A9 – and after a detour to the small distillery of Glenturret (whose whisky is part of the Famous Grouse blend & is now branded as the Famous Grouse Experience). After a tour of the distillery we stopped for lunch in what appeared, I thought, to be a dull little restaurant – however we both had soup and a doorstopper slice of fresh bread and it was very tasty indeed.

Our next dining delight was the following day at Glenfiddich (anyone spotting a trend here?!). We ended up here earlier than expected during our week away as the weather was quite dull and it seemed to make sense. Last year we had enjoyed two fabulous baked potatoes here and we had both been looking forward to going back. So after another distillery tour (well, it is free & you get a dram) we stopped for lunch in the beautiful restaurant. We both repeat ordered our jackets – mine with smoked salmon and cream cheese, Mr C had Orkney cheese & ham. All I can say is they were delicious (picture to follow).

Tuesday was spent dolphin watching and as you already know they didn’t show. So after spending a few hours wrapped up like a pass-the-parcel we gave up, went ‘home’ & I made some delicious Yellow Split Pea soup.
(The day light was quite bright, so the sunglasses aided my water watching as I didn’t have to squint!)

The next day we had a lovely walk through the Glenlivet Estate. It was probably about 2.30pm when we’d finished the walk in the car park of Glenlivet distillery however after popping in to look at their lunch menu we decided to hop in the car back to Glenfiddich! This time we both had a sandwich – they make delicious food there so if you get a chance do go in and have a look.

In the evening we went to the Mash Tun in Aberlour. The food was nothing less than fantastic & considering the leaflet we had which classed the establishment as having boutique hotel accommodation we were surprised to find the meals were inexpensive. I enjoyed deep fried brie with an onion chutney and Mr C experimented with Haggis, Neeps and Tatties with a whisky sauce. His plate was clean in minutes – I think he really enjoyed it! For mains I chose the only veggie option which was Savoury Bread & Butter pudding with feta and roasted vegetables. I don’t think I would have instinctively chosen this but it was excellent – the portion sized beat me though and I had to leave some. Mr C opted for his all time favourite – a trio sausages (1 haggis, 1 wild boar & leek and 1 venison) served with mash and gravy. Doubtless to say there was another clean plate!

We tried to burn off some of the calories the next day walking around the golf course at Craggan – it was very, very windy but most enjoyable. I mean how can you not enjoy it with scenery like this…
, pOn Friday we went for a horse trek through a forest at Loch Alvie. Lucy, my horse may have been the slowest in Scotland but was very adorable. Mr C rode Murphy…

On Friday evening we took my mum & dad up to the sunset dining experience at Cairngorm which is 3600 feet above sea level – the highest in the UK. After arriving at the base, a funicular takes you up to the summit. Unfortunately it wasn’t the clearest evening for the sunset but the views were still fantastic – if you ever go I’d recommend taking a nice warm jumper or coat as its very windy at the top!

Its not the cheapest meal in the world but with the views and experience we would definitely do it again. I started with Mussels and Smoked Haddock with Orkney Cheese sauce and Mr C had Breast of Pheasant with pink peppercorn mousse , red onion marmalade and watercress salad. Mine was delicious but I did have a quick taste of the pheasant & it was divine – something we’ve never tried before but something I’d definitely have again.
For mains I had the veggie option – Spiced aubergine and lentil parcels with vegetable couscous. Mr C chose the Fillet of Aberdeen Angus beef with rosti potato, asparagus and Ptarmigan whisky sauce.
For dessert we both enjoyed the Hot chocolate fondant with home made vanilla ice cream.

The next day was our last full day in the Highlands so the boys went to watch Elgin City and then we ended the holiday in true Anderson family fashion – with some of the best fish & chips ever and as we were in Scotland we had to have a white pudding too. We sat by the banks of the Spey to devour it and it was the perfect end to a perfect break.