Restaurants

The Big Sky team has extensively tested all that Inverness and the Black Isle has to offer in terms of delicious local food and drink. Below are a few of our favourite bars, pubs, restaurants and cafes.

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.

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The quintessential Scots dish is haggis, a type of rich sausage meat made from spiced liver, offal, oatmeal and onion and cooked inside a bag made from a sheep’s stomach. Though more frequently found on tourist-oriented menus than the dining tables of Scots at home, it’s surprisingly tasty and satisfying, particularly when eaten with its traditional accompaniments: “bashed neeps” (mashed turnips) and “chappit tatties” (mashed potatoes). The humble haggis has become rather trendy in recent years, appearing in swanky restaurants wrapped in filo pastry or drizzled with berry sauce, and a vegetarian version is widely available. Other traditional dishes which you may well encounter include stovies, a tasty blend of onion, sliced potato and scraps of meat, or various forms of meat pie: a Scotch pie has mince inside a circular hard pastry case, while a bridie, famously associated with the town of Forfar, has mince and onions inside a flaky pastry crescent. In this cold climate, home-made soup is often welcome; try Scots broth, made with combinations of lentil, split pea, mutton stock or vegetables and barley. A more refined delicacy is Cullen skink, a rich soup made from smoked haddock, potatoes and cream.

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.