DISTINCTIVE
RESTAURANTS
The
basis of the best Scottish hotel and restaurant cooking is fresh local
produce in season: fish and shellfish, beef, mutton, lamb and venison
– the last perhaps from the mountainous island of Jura – fruit
and vegetables. Glasgow in particular has cosmopolitan tastes in food.
As well as restaurants offering traditional Scottish fare, others specialise
in French, Italian, Indian and Chinese cuisine, with rare outlets for
Greek, Turkish, American and Catalan. The best in each category are
of recognised high standard. This excellence is not restricted to the
city. There are fine restaurants in county towns like Ayr and Stirling,
as well as in up-country locations like Port Appin and Aberfoyle. Teashops
and coffee shops are popular, the oldest in Glasgow dating back to 1797.
Recently Glasgow has gone in strongly for bistros and brasseries, which
are well supported although, as in other cities, some of them wax and
wane in public esteem.
Seafood
The waters off the coast of Argyll have the advantage of being both
cold and pure, with no polluting factory outflows. As a result, the
fish and shellfish here are of very high quality. Prawns, lobsters,
clams and velvet crabs, taken by expert local fishermen, are exported
to the Continent; but enough are left to place the West of Scotland
high on the international gourmets’ list. Some of the best oysters
in Europe come from the island of Colonsay; more are farmed in Loch
Fyne, and there are mussel farms in Loch Craignish and Loch Etive. Smokehouses
do good business; Ritchies of Rothesay are the ‘royalty’ of
the trade, especially in smoked salmon and kippers.
Cheese
Most Scots are content with factory-produced Cheddar-type cheeses, but
smaller specialist cheesemakers have begun to establish themselves.
Lanark Blue and Dunsyre Blue are veined cheeses from the same farm’s
herd of Ayrshire cows. Bonnet cheese from goat’s milk, Swinzie
from ewes’
and Dunloppe from cows’ are all farm-produced near Stewarton. There
is award-winning Bute cheese from Rothesay Creamery, and wax-coated
truckles (cheese section) are produced at Campbeltown.
