TRIP 2 - THE BLACK ISLE AUGUST 2018

SATURDAY 18^th AUGUST

The second Highland Gourmet trip was a day trip around the Black Isle with Bruce and Irene. Time did not allow a longer trip.

We started at a reasonable time on a Saturday morning after a light breakfast, just before 1000, on a bright and breezy day in Inverness. We were soon crossing the Kessock Bridge and heading for the north of the Black Isle. Our first stop was Findon Hall at Culbokie, where there was a community market. While there was an element of everything and everybody being hand-knitted, there was some very nice food. The cheese, in particular was exceptional and we all bought some of that along with some rare breed pork, some salads and a couple of locally smoked kippers for breakfast one day soon.

Once we had had our retail therapy, we drove to Cromarty. We had intended to go on the coastal route, but Newhall bridge was being replaced, so that route was closed to us. We should have seen some of the myriad of birds that winter in the Cromarty Firth along with seals and other wildlife. However, we would make up for that later.

Cromarty is an old and interesting little village. The majority of it dates from the 1770’s when some major port development was undertaken by the laird at the time. He fostered strong trade links with the Baltic ports by building the harbour along with cloth, iron and ropeworks that he built in the town. It is a fascinating place to wander round. It was very windy, though, so we made our way to our lunch venue - Sutor Creek.

This small pizza restaurant is justly famous across much of the Highlands. It has won a number of awards, since it opened. It has appeared in the Michelin Guide for the last three years. It was one of the Herald’s top 21 restaurants in Scotland in 2015 and was on the Times list of the top 20 secret foodie restaurants in the UK.

Having said that, it is basically just a pizza place. But, the pizzas are cooked in a large wood-fired oven in the restaurant and they are not restricted to the usual suspects. They also do a nice range of locally brewed beers as well as a nice list of wines. They even cook dishes other than pizza, which suited Irene down to the ground. Portions are quite large, which meant we made a mistake in ordering starters, but it is a gourmet trip!

Irene and Sharon both had a nice bowl of carrot and coriander soup to start. Bruce had the whitebait special and Robert had a pressed ham hock terrine with plum chutney. That might have done it for some of us, but we had committed to main courses. Irene had the haddock fishcake with broccoli, Sharon had a herbed flat bread with goats cheese and pesto. Bruce had the deluxe Margherita with buffalo mozarella, basil and sun-dried tomatoes. Robert had a spicy CPJ with chorizo, pepperoni and jalapenos. Bruce and Robert washed theirs down with the local Cromarty Brewery’s Happy Chappy ale. The picture is of Robert’s terrine. We were all a bit full after this feast, so we walked along the shore, past the picturesque harbour back towards the car.

Before we could get to the car, however, Bruce spotted a quaint coffee shop within what can only be called a hut by the beach. It did promise good coffee, so he bought himself an espresso, which he declared to be good.

That was the end of our visit to Cromarty, although there was still lots to see – some very finely preserved churches, fishermen’s cottages, craft shops and outside the village there are remains of first and second world war gun emplacements. The Cromarty Firth was a significant naval anchorage and Invergordon, on the other side of the Firth attracts huge cruise liners, due to the deep water.

Our next stop was the previously mentioned Cromarty Brewery. Unfortunately, it was not open on Saturdays. A black mark there for the organisers, but also a lesson learned. Here is a picture of one of their delivery vans parked outside on the day.

Most people who cook or eat good food will realise the importance of fresh herbs. So, our next venue was the Poyntzfield Herb Nursery, down the hill from the Brewery. It was a bit sunnier by then and the walled herb garden was nicely sheltered from the wind. The range of herbs here is astonishing and unusual. We bought a Basil Mint, which is a mint that tastes of mint and basil combined. Apparently it makes an interesting pesto and we have used it just to garnish some salad dishes. Bruce and Irene bought some herbs and a Gingko sapling. Gingko is the only living species of its type surviving from 270 million years ago. It is widely grown in China for medicinal and food purposes. The seeds are reputed to have aphrodisiac properties. Given that Bruce only bought a sapling, this is probably academic. The photo is of a bee on an Echinacea flower at the garden. This was widely used by American Indians for medical purposes and it has been suggested that it may have some value in treating cold symptoms.

We had thought to go to one of a number of bakeries for afternoon tea and cakes, but nobody had room for that, so we made a detour down to the shore at Fortrose. From there we could see that there were crowds of people at the water’s edge. This normally suggets that the local pod of Bottlenosed Dolphins is feeding close to shore. We drove to the car park and walked out to the point and, sure enough, the dolphins, including a young one, were putting on a magnificent show. Chanonry Point is thought to be one of the best places in the world for watching dolphins close to the shore. They are, at times, less than a hundred yards away. Luckily we managed to get some good photos.

Suitably impressed, we moved on to our last stop of the day which was the Black Isle Brewery. You can tell that this tour was specifically tailored to satisfy the interests of Bruce and Robert. We could, of course, have gone to the Bad Girls Bakery for some of their astonishing cakes, but everybody was still too full, and we were going out to dinner at 8 o’clock. The bakery is so good that they recently won the contract to supply breakfast muffins for the Caledonian Sleeper overnight train from the Highlands to London. We went to the brewery instead and bought some very nice beer for another day.

We came home after the brewery stop, because we were tired and needed to rest and freshen up before going out to Rocpool for dinner. Rocpool regularly tops the review sites as the most popular restaurant in Inverness. It was certainly busy when we got there for our 8 o’clock dinner, which we were just about ready to eat. It has to be said that the food was good, even very good for the most part, but there were a couple of things that disappointed. The service was slow to begin with, which was a little unfortunate. The starters were mixed. Robert had carpaccio of beef with crispy artichokes, rocket and parmesan. It was excellent. Sharon had the tempura courgette flowers which were stuffed with ricotta and parmesan. She should not have done that as Robert makes something very similar at home when he gets courgette flowers in the garden. Sharon agreed that Robert’s were as good as those at the restaurant. Irene had a summer salad of burrata cheese, peaches, bresaola and herbs, which she enjoyed. Bruce had tuna and scallop salad with mango and chilli. He felt the tuna was overcooked, but otherwise it was good.

Robert's Carpaccio

Robert’s main was loin of Speyside venison with parma ham and haggis, glazed baby turnips, roasted shallots, creamed parsnips and crispy fried potato – outstanding. Sharon and Irene both had the Oriental salad of chilli and parmesan crusted chicken with jasmine rice, watercress and cucumber with a spiced shallot, cashew nut and lime dressing. Sharon enjoyed hers, but Irene was less impressed because she does not like the coriander leaf which ran through the dish. Bruce went for soft golden polenta with asparagus, tenderstem broccoli and crumbled Highland blue cheese and a poached egg. He felt the blue cheese would have been better if it had been stirred through the polenta rather than being crumbled on the dish and so, much more concentrated. His poached egg did not have a runny yolk! So a mixed experience, but to an extent that was down to menu choice. We had a pleasant walk back across the river to take a taxi home for a nightcap and the end of a very full day.

Some improvements necessary, but overall a pretty successful and enjoyable trip. There will be more to come, so watch this space.