Dinner at Loch Leven Hotel – North Ballachulish Scotland

After our round trip following a circular route from Ballachulish to Oban and returning via Tyndrum, the Rannoch Moors and Glen Coe, we came out of the West Highlands down along Loch Leven.  It was approaching time for dinner…

After passing through the historic village of Glencoe, site of the infamous “Glencoe Massacre”, we arrived in Ballachulish, which was just across the water from North Ballachulish and our hotel.  FYI, in Gaelic Ballachulish means “Village of the Narrows”…referring to the width of Loch Leven at this point.

In any case, I’d had the Laroch Restaurant and Bar on my list of places to dine but I failed to have our hotel make reservations for us.  Consequently we were unable to experience dinner at this restaurant that is operated by a Michelin Star Chef… If you’d like to see what we missed, their website is at http://thelarochrestaurantandbar.co.uk/index.html.

Note:

I can’t very well mention a massacre and not provide any information about it… The slaughter that took place on 2/13/1692 was not a clan feud between the Campbells and the MacDonalds per se but it did lead to centuries of bad blood between the 2 clans.  In fact, although Campbells comprised a significant portion of the troops involved in the action, it was actually a government operation based on the MacDonalds ‘failure’ to promptly pledge allegiance to the new Monarchs, William III and Mary II. 

After billeting their forces with the MacDonalds of Glencoe for several days, and posing as ‘friendly guests’, one winter morning the government soldiers rose up early and slaughtered 38 men from Clan MacDonald.  Another 40 women and children later died of exposure after their homes were burned to the ground.

To learn more about this incident…politics and rivalry at its worst…you can go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_of_Glencoe.

Moving on from the story about the massacre and beyond my failure to ensure that we had a reservation at the Laroch Restaurant and Bar, we returned to our hotel…the Loch Leven Hotel in North Ballachulish…where we ended up having dinner.  

As I mentioned in a previous posting, our hotel (as well as its bar) both date back to the 1600s when it was a busy place due to its proximity to the ferry crossing at the narrows of Loch Leven.

This is the main dining room at the Loch Leven Hotel.  After our long day of exploring the countryside, we were getting hungry!

Laurie and I ordered the Home Smoked Gin Cured Scottish Salmon. (7.95 PS/$10.35 US) This appetizer featured Outer Hebrides salmon, horseradish cream and brown bread.  It was very nice as well as being a nice change from the lox type of salmon that was the norm in many restaurants.

This was the River Leven Ale Braised Beef Shin. (14.75 PS/$19.20 US) The ale braised beef shin, (better known as beef shank), was served with oak smoked mash, and glazed root vegetables with ruby port jus.  No complaints here!

Another choice at our table was the Scottish Lamb Rump. (18.25 PS/$23.70 US) This well received entrée with ruby port jus was served with pommes rissoles, black pudding and minted pea puree.

I think that the terms 'shin' and 'rump' could be modified a just a bit to make them sound more appetizing...just my opinion...

Bonnie decided that she wasn’t all that hungry so she just ordered the Prawn Cocktail as her ‘entrée’. (7.25 PS/$9.40 US) It was much larger than she expected!  There were plenty of shrimp/prawns and they were served with baby gen lettuce and avocado with a creamy mustard based drizzle.

If you’ve been following our journey through Scotland, by now you know what this entrée is!  It’s Loch Leven’s Innis and Gunn Battered Fish Chips. ($11.25 PS/$14.60 US) This version of fish and chips came with hand cut chips (French fries), tartar sauce, lemon wedges and some ubiquitous peas.  That was one big hunk of fried fish and it was all good…

Laurie and I were the only ones to order dessert.  This was the Banana Tarte Tatin. (5.95 PS/$7.75 US) It was very tasty and we made short work of it!

The restaurant at the Loch Leven Hotel serves lunch daily from 12 Noon until 2 PM and dinner daily from 6 PM until 9 PM.  A sample dinner menu can be found at http://www.lochlevenhotel.co.uk/downloads/Dinner-menu.pdf.  

While we missed the opportunity to dine with a Michelin Chef, we certainly couldn’t find fault with our meal at our hotel!  It was very competent indeed… FYI, the hotel’s bar won the Scottish Hotel award for ‘best bar dining’ in 2016 and for ’best bar’ in 2017!

For information about accommodations, Loch Leven Hotel’s web site is found at http://www.lochlevenhotel.co.uk/index.html. 

The next posting from our Scottish adventure will be the last… In mid January, I will begin an accounting of our adventures in Ireland!

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them!

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave