Outdoors: Skye

Published on Sunday 20 June 2010 11:14

We drove from Morvern up to Mallaig through Ardnamurchan and Moidart. In the middle of May such a journey may be made in any sort of weather: winter can linger in such latitudes, and return in a sting of sleet or a snell wind from the wrong quarter. Or it may suddenly become balmy, with warmth in the sun and a sparkle on water. Nothing should surprise one in the west when it comes to the elements.

For us, though, it was a peach of a day, and even Mallaig, which is perhaps not the most well-set of places, looked charming. A short trip, then, courtesy of that great institution, MacBraynes, and we were on Skye, heading past the Gaelic College, perched on its cliff, off on the broad and beautiful new road which the European Union has so generously provided (well, the Greeks didn't get everything).

Ten miles along that, overlooking a small bay, is Kinloch Lodge, an attractive, white-painted laird's house of the sort that dots the Highlands and never looks out of place, never awkward in its landscape. Modest in its signage, Kinloch Lodge is nevertheless the best country house hotel in Scotland. Simpliciter. Official.

Kinloch is a nest of Macdonalds, and has been for a long time. It is the seat of the High Panjandrum of all Macdonalds, Lord Macdonald, and is therefore a really good place for Macdonalds of any description to go and soak up centuries of history. Some of our fellow guests may have been Macdonalds, or crypto-Macdonalds, but everyone is made to feel extraordinarily welcome.

That is the secret of a great hotel: the staff makes you feel welcome. I have strong views on that subject; being required to stay in so many hotels, I always feel a great rush of relief when I arrive in one that seems actually to like its guests. There are very few such establishments. Most hotels only tolerate their guests, and many view them with suspicion and even actual distaste.

We were welcomed by the general manager, Philip Fleming, who, if he has not yet received any awards for courtesy and attentiveness, should surely do so soon. Then we met Isabella Macdonald, daughter of the chatelaine of Kinloch, the tremendously famous writer of cookery books, Lady Claire Macdonald. I did not meet Claire Macdonald, alas, but while on the subject I might casually mention the fact that I have met Delia.

The blessed Delia and I did a literary lunch in London for one of those London papers. We got on very well and I will be doing a lunch for Delia in Norfolk, where she hangs out. I shall not be cooking it, of course, but will speak there. Sorry to drop names like this, but I do have to establish that I know all about these cookery people.

Anyway, Isabella now runs the hotel with her husband, Tom Eveling, from Edinburgh. They do a superb job and they also deserve an award. In fact they have been given quite a few awards recently. They made our stay a great pleasure.

On to the table. Now I am not one to be dazzled by the glitter of this world but I must confess that I am tremendously impressed by restaurants that get a Michelin star. Kinloch got its star in January, and congratulations are due to the chef, Marcello Tully. Judging from the wonderful meals that we had, this award is richly deserved.

What did Mr Tully and his team serve up? Well, we started with a little glass of soup made of roast tomato and black olive. I have a weakness for olives. (In the last Isabel Dalhousie novel, Isabel's little son, Charlie, utters his first word, which is olive; Edinburgh babies are like that.) This soup was all foamed up, and our waitress revealed that there is a special soda siphon that chefs use for this purpose. It was utterly delicious; I could have had two or three helpings and still asked for more.

Next came warm Isle of Skye crab mousse, served with Drumfearn mussels. At this point words might fail me, but ... even more delicious, light and delicate, memorable. After that, it is the custom of the kitchen to serve a small chef's special that everybody is offered, no matter what their other choices may be. That night it was seared scallop with Lochalsh Haggis. The scallops were beautifully fresh and firm, which suggest that they were hand-dived, as many scallops in that part are, rather than sucked up by vacuum cleaner.

I then chose Isle of Skye lamb served on a platform of potatoes dauphinoise and accompanied by pancetta lardons and shallots. This was perfection itself. My wife, Elizabeth, had exactly the same thing.

Kinloch has a very good system of recommending a flight of wine with each course. So they deliver two glasses of a specially chosen wine to accompany the course. For those who are not great topers, one glass can be chosen. The wine list, which Tom looks after, is exceptional.

We could not face a pudding after all those marvellous creations, and so we contented ourselves with watching diners at neighbouring tables eat theirs. I can report that they seemed to enjoy it greatly.

Magnificent. A credit to Skye, to Scotland, and to all Macdonalds. Simply wonderful.

Dining:

KINLOCH LODGE

Sleat, Isle of Skye (01471 833333, www.kinloch-lodge.co.uk)

How much?

Dinner for two, excluding drinks, 104 (52 a head for three courses)

Three to try:

THE ISLE OF ERISKA HOTEL

Spa and Island, Ledaig, By Oban, Argyll (01631 720371, www.eriska-hotel.co.uk)

Watch badgers eat dinner on the porch, then head to the restaurant, with its three AA rosettes and incredible cheese trolley.

EIGHTEEN69

Auchrannie Hotel, Brodick (01770 302234, www.auchrannie.co.uk)

This hotel boasts three restaurants, but eighteen69 is the most formal. Smoked fish comes from the Creelers smokehouse and fromage from the Island Cheese Company.

SUMMER ISLES HOTEL

Achiltibuie, Ullapool (01854 622282, www.summerisleshotel.co.uk)

It should be obligatory to taste the seafood at this place, which specialises in west coast shellfish. Try the spiny lobsters with Hollandaise sauce.

Alexander McCall Smith's latest novel, The Dog Who Came in from the Cold, published by Polygon, 16.99, is out now.

&#149 This article was first published in The Scotsman on 19 June.