Evening Standard
David Ellis made a trip to a Victorian Gothic former hunting lodge built by Lord Byron’s son-in-law on Scotland’s northwest coast that is now apparently Britain’s northernmost five-star hotel. It boasts a whisky bar that might be David’s favourite bar in the world and a wood-lined restaurant, 1887, that is full of “mystery, magic” and very good cooking.
Chef Danny Young recognises that “gastronomy of an intellectual kind would be inappropriate” here, so he serves “food that does not shout but impresses, food that is delicious”. Dishes include a mushroom tea that is “savoury, rich, umami”; local venison tartare; barbecued langoustine; cod slow-cooked to bring out its buttery sweetness, and beef fillet “as perfect and tender as an old Scots ballad”. And while the menu is traditional, the wine list is attractively “modern, playful and egalitarian”.
The experience left David musing, “You look out of the window and hope for snow, as though you might get stuck here, in the safest place on earth.”
David Ellis - 2025-10-05
Drinks
Extras
