Stephen Jardine: Let’s all take the high road that leads the way to a better future for Scottish cuisine

IT IS one of the oldest food clichés in the book. Leave Scotland’s major cities and you will encounter malnutrition before a decent meal.

We all have horror stories of sitting in harbour pubs watching fishing boats unloading their catch while being served tepid fish pie which has only travelled from the freezer to the microwave.

But change is underway and if Scotland’s food evolution is evident anywhere, it is in the far-flung corners of our land. Now the tales of deep-fried despair are obscured by stories of amazing eating experiences in the most unexpected of places.

Part of the renaissance has been a response to tourists who demand more and won’t put up with less.

We are all more discerning and also better informed about our food and where it comes from.

With menus in the main cities featuring Stornoway black pudding and Isle of Mull hand-dived scallops, there is no excuse for restaurants in those places to be cooking out of the freezer any more.

So let’s leave behind familiar territory and head down the road less travelled. The islands exemplify the changes taking place.

Not so long ago I had some of my worst meals ever in hotel dining rooms which used their island location to serve up food that would have sparked a riot in Alcatraz. The culinary high point was a bacon roll on the Cal Mac ferry heading home.

Now these locations are using their proximity to our freshest produce to deliver some of the most exciting eating in Scotland.

Café Fish in Tobermory is leading the way. Named as the Good Food Guide’s Fish restaurant of the year 2012, it’s philosophy is summed up in the slogan: “The only thing frozen is our fishermen”.

That relaxed, informal approach is a sharp contrast to the hushed tones and starched linen that characterised the few places where good food was once available in the more remote parts of Scotland.

The new-wave of places share some common characteristics. They all serve food that relies on freshness and quality of ingredients rather than complex techniques and heavy sauces.

They all go for low-key décor that allows the food and the view out of the window to tell the story. And they all employ good, young local staff who are bright and well informed about the food they are serving.

Several of them also seem to have key individuals from the other side of the world but sometimes it takes them to see an opportunity that we take for granted.

Port Beach House is an example of that. In a location famed for it’s remoteness, an Australian chef and his Scottish wife spotted potential.

The result is the kind of place you dream about stumbling across on every holiday. It overlooks the harbour at Port of Ness where the gannets were landed as part of the local tradition of eating guga.

Thankfully Port Beach house is now on hand to offer up more palatable alternatives like crab cakes, scallops and langoustines.

From Digby Chick in Stornoway to Hay’s Dock within the Shetland Museum, this year has seen this new breed of contemporary Scottish cafés and restaurants prosper and thrive around our coastline. But summer is over and now the challenge begins.

Some of these places simply close over the winter but building a sustainable business based on a short summer season is tough.

That is why more and more are staying open most, if not all of the year.

For that to work they need us to support them. We’ve come a long way but if the journey is to continue, we need to repay the commitment they are making to improving what we eat.