Bespoke Michelin starred restaurant with rooms overlooking Loch Hourn, serving simple and wonderfully flavoured dishes
Aside from the beautiful location, what made this even better was that the food had a pleasing ability based on how simple the flavours were. Hard to fault as an experience and the service was utterly natural. The dining room itself is quite formal in its look but doesn’t lose comfort value thankfully. This is the sort of place I could happily stay for several days doing nothing but taking long walks in the glorious, peaked surroundings, reading by the fire and good dining at supper time. Particularly pleasing was being reminded of the horizontal rain and windswept location that it was outside, whilst being cooped up inside by their log fire having pre-lunch drinks and coffees afterwards. The four courses for £39 per person at lunch represented overall good value for money in comparison with all other notable options in the Skye area which appears to be generally at quite a high premium, reportedly for a higher rate of overheads for basic heating and essentials than one might first think.
This was a delightful afternoon. This wasn’t just because I was with old friends of the highest calibre, but being tucked away in the log-fired and charmingly homely living room of Kinloch Lodge which we had all to ourselves, warm as toast looking out at the dismal, rain swept Loch on holiday with glasses of fizz and no time pressure was frankly one of the nicest scenes of my whole year.
Canapés came in the form of seafood bon bons which were a little dry but had were made from freshly caught produce. I thought the slightly spicy pea and cheese amuse bouche was lovely and the fact there was another pleasant amuse bouche prior of creamy soupçon (miniature soup of creamed sweetcorn) to the starters was another reason to enjoy the proceedings. My roast pork cheeks had a wonderfully caramelised glaze as a coating and the meat was utterly tender. The seabass fillet was cooked well and served with a lovely vanilla cream sauce which had the all-important texture provided from the ‘nest’ of crispy julienne vegetables. Mainly steered by the sauce, this created much pleasure however, visually the food was basic and although dessert was not as memorable as the preceding courses, it was still very smooth and pleasant.
Aside from the presentation of the food being basic in comparison to its 162 Michelin starred peers, there was a pleasing effect from the sauces, but I am aware that my love of rich and sweet sauces can make me possibly more excited than is necessary. It is firmly lodged as a lovely experience in my head with good value and humble offerings.
Food Grade: 70%
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