Restaurant of the Week: Inver, Strathlachlan, Strachur, Argyll

Location

It’s a little bit special, miles down a single track road in wildest Argyll, looking out to Loch Fyne and opposite the picturesque ruins of Lachlan Castle. There’s every chance you’ll spot an osprey looking for lunch while you’re choosing yours.

First impression

Looks like a whitewashed cottage. Nice, but not fancy. Anyway, it would be impossible to outshine the scenery.

Service

Relaxed efficiency with the waiting staff in their blue smocks friendly and attentive. There when you need them, invisible when you don’t.

Super fresh and wholly Scottish, from the crabs hauled from the loch, literally a stone’s throw from your table, to the Gigha halibut to the lamb from Bute and oysters from Loch Creran. All of it, meat and fish, vegetables and herbs, has been found close to home with everything, even the bread and butter, made in the kitchen.

Taste

Amazing. Best restaurant in Scotland? Well, few could match the food and the vibe. It’s cooked superbly, looks great and bursts with freshness and flavour. We ordered one of the specials, ox tongue, but with a little (needless) trepidation. It arrived beneath a silvery blanket of white beetroot, pickled walnuts and little crunchy oxtail fritters and looked like nothing we had ever eaten. And it wasn’t, it was better than anything we had ever eaten.

Price

Not cheap, but not over-priced. About what you’d pay in a decent restaurant in town but this is a superb restaurant in an unforgettable setting. £8ish for starters, £20ish for mains. Three courses and a bottle of wine – £100 for two and a meal you’ll remember forever.