Dinner for 1 with wine £35.00

I recently went to Scotland for the first time and despite what all the naysayers say about Scottish food, I went to eat.  I mean not just to eat.  I went to hike and drink whiskey and well mostly to drink whiskey but also to eat.  I was determined to come back to London with tales of the incredible meals I’d had.

My first attempt was the Loch Fyne Oyster bar on Loch Fyne.  This is by no means an off the beaten path restaurant.  It has branches all over the UK promoting Scottish seafood.  This however is the original and is supposed to be the best.  It also gets very mixed reviews for service so I was pleasantly surprised when I called to make a reservation that the nice man on the phone promised me a table with a great view.

The drive up to Loch Fyne from Glasgow was chock full of jaw droppingly gorgeous views.  I kept having to pull over to get out of the car and just gawk.  I figured that when I got to Cairndow the beauty would be marred by an enormous tour bus welcoming commercial mega-enterprise,  but it wasn’t.  Simple sign, the place is not very big and shares its space with a garden center.  If you didn’t know it was a famous location you might just pass it by.

Unbelievably I ended up at, as promised, at a great corner table with the best view of the Loch.  I couldn’t believe they’d actually remembered.  So far so good.

The service was a little slow but it was just as well as I had serious trouble deciding what to order.  So I ordered everything.  I started with oysters of course.  I had high hopes for these oysters.  In theory these should have been some of the freshest, sweetest, bestest oysters I’ve ever eaten.

Oysters with Shallot Vinaigrette

And they were.  They were some really really amazing oysters.  I briefly considered canceling the rest of my meal and just having 18 more oysters.

Next came the salmon course.  Even though its called an oyster bar, Loch Fyne is also very well known for their smoked salmon.  I had a sampler which came with salmon smoked four different ways.  Gravlax,  smoked, Braden Orach (strongly smoked) and Braden Rost (kiln roasted).

Salmon Sampler

Choosing the sampler was the best way to go.  It was so interesting to have such significantly different flavors and textures from the same fish.  They were all spectacular and a great introduction to Scottish salmon.  All that was missing was a bagel and cream cheese.

For my last course I moved on to my beloved scallops.  These particular scallops were baked in their shells with mashed potato.

Scallops

The most intelligent thing I can think of to say about these scallops is aaaaaaaarrrrggggghhhhh…  They were just so sweet and creamy.  The mash had a good crusty top to it with the scallops inside perfectly cooked.   This is a dish that looks like it is possible to replicate at home.  Really simple – no extra faff – just perfect.

I could not force myself to eat a pudding I was so stuffed.

If you are anywhere near Cairndow in your Scottish travels definitely book a table here – it will be worth it.  And if you can’t manage to get in for a meal they have a fantastic shop right next door where you can buy fresh and smoked fish and fixings.

Book I was reading:  Scotland A New History

Loch Fyne Oyster Bar
Clachan
Cairndow
Scotland PA26 8BL