restaurant review skeabost house, skye

Instagram fame of the Fairy Pools and the Cuillins (such If our starters hit the spot, so, too, did our main courses of
was the demand that the summer before Covid the local locally sourced comfort food. A lamb shank with roast garlic

a skye
constabulary were stopping cars on the bridge and turning
back anyone who had not already booked accommodation) the
hotel’s customer base has changed markedly. Half of our fellow
residents were tourists from overseas, half from elsewhere in
the UK, while there was a fair smattering of locals visiting the
restaurant as non-residents.
pomme purée and a perfectly cooked 28-day aged ribeye with
a whisky and peppercorn sauce had us munching contentedly
on our first night. Our second evening saw us move on to fish,
perhaps because despite the best efforts of Danny our ghillie,
and a spate that had brought the lovely Snizort up to the perfect
height, we failed to turn a couple of strong tugs from hidden

high
In fact the place was so full that we couldn’t salmon into landed fish. Both the

“
get a seat in the small bar, so instead had G&Ts pan-seared fillet of cod with a saffron
in front of the fire before our meal. Over two It started life as jus and the lightly curried lemon sole
nights dinner proved to be the sort of country a Victorian hunting provided a measure of consolation.
house comfort food you need when the So did the puddings, with the
temperature is beginning to nosedive and the lodge and was banana crème brûlée the unexpected
A fishing trip led the Mystery Diner to an old days are taken up with hearty walks or fishing. then a fishing hotel but clear winner, the cheesecake
Our starters were a case in point, with all winning silver, with a disappointing
Victorian hunting lodge on the island of Skye our choices being sourced locally on the island. cheese platter lagging a distant last.
The pick of the bunch was the crab meat with crème fraîche, We were also pleased with the wines on a small but well-priced
which we both ordered. This came with roasted courgettes, wine list that was strong on the New World, with a Chilean
cherry tomatoes and chilli lime salsa, and was a slick, well- Carménère for the meat dishes and a Viognier for the fishiness.
constructed pick-me-up in which the warmth and acidity of While Skeabost House Hotel is still evolving, there is

O
the salsa beautifully complemented the delicate flavours of much to like about this distinctive hotel, not least the warm
n the day we Grace Gunn, a Skye the crab. welcome from all the staff and the huge rooms. It also reflects
headed up hotelier who The other two dishes – a huge bowl of mussels in a white the changes in the tourist scene in Skye, with what was once
to Skye, the has restored not wine, cream and garlic sauce, and a dish in which beautifully primarily a fishing hotel now almost exclusively serving an
heavens just Skeabost tender slices of duck were paired with orange and onion altogether different market, but clearly thriving.
opened. In the six hours but Duisdale marmalade, plus pickled raisins and a blueberry dressing – also What was once an old hunting lodge is in new hands, and its
it took us to get from House and disappeared with indecent haste. customer base has evolved, yet it is full steam ahead.
Edinburgh to Skeabost Toravaig House
House near Portree, the to establish three
weather was consistently,
persistently vile.
four-star hotels
under the Sonas Six of the Best
That’s the bad news. brand.
If you’re looking for good food at great fishing hotels in Scotland, here are some of our favourites...
The good news is that None has had
Skeabost was once a more remedial
BALLATHIE HOUSE HOTEL maryculter house
grand fishing hotel, and work than Skeabost, This Perthshire institution Right on the Dee and with
retains the fishing rights which is a curious mix of is right on the banks of the incredible Knights Templar
over much of the Snizort, contemporary flourishes Tay and serves traditional history, this is a real gem.
the best salmon river on Skye. and oak panelled Victoriana. A country house fare. Dinner maryculterhouse.com
Given that it is a spate river – one huge amount has already been spent although at the 2 AA rosette is £60pp.
ballathiehousehotel.com
where the fish only run after a downpour has more is apparently due to be spent. ednam house hotel
pushed up the level of the river – this apocalyptic
field One of the areas where cash has most Next to the Tweed’s famed
deluge was actually just what we fishermen needed. facts conspicuously been lavished on the building is in SCOURIE HOTEL Junction Pool, this Kelso
This quintessential family- hotel is a fishing institution.
So, having checked with our ghillie Danny that Price the construction of an orangery-style dining room
run Sutherland fishing hotel ednamhouse.com
conditions would be perfect on the river, we arrived £95 plus wine, with wraparound windows on three sides. These
can offer trout and salmon
at Skeabost in good fettle, undaunted by the slate coffee & service windows give panoramic views out to the pier from fishing over 300 lochs,
royal marine hotel
ILLUSTRATION - THE EDINBURGH SKETCHER

grey skies and the torrential rain. That said, it was a which goods would come down the long neck of lochans and rivers.
rating Northern rivers – the Brora,
pity to see Skeabost obscured by a curtain of drizzle Loch Snizort to be unloaded at Skeabost House. It’s scouriehotel.com
 Helmsdale, Oykel and Shin
because, with its central tower and castellated Skeabost House easy to see how the house got its Gaelic name of ‘the – are accessible from this
design, the large white building is one of those Hotel, sheltered place’, while the restaurant is called Pier forss house hotel newly renovated Brora hotel.
impressive Victorian edifices that make you stop Skeabost Bridge, View Restaurant in tribute to its outlook. This lovely hotel is right on royalmarinebrora.com
and stare for a minute or three. Isle of Skye There was a time when Skeabost was a the short but abundant
IV51 9NR Thurso river. Its restaurant Clockwise from top left: Ballathie
Skeabost began life as a hunting lodge in 1871, Tel: 01470 traditional fishing hotel – the original wood-
is the only 2 AA Rosette House; Forss House; Ednam
but the last time I saw the building it wasn’t in such 373737 panelled dining room now serves as the breakfast
restaurant in Caithness. House; Maryculter House; Scourie
good shape. Since then, however, it has undergone www.skyehotel. room – but with the explosion of interest in the
co.uk/skeabost forsshousehotel.co.uk Hotel; Royal Marine Hotel.
something of a transformation thanks to Annie island since the building of the bridge and the

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