The Three Chimneys in Skye

A while back, in September, the Monkey and I went on a trip to the beautiful isle of Skye. We walked in the Fairy Glen, climbed the Old Man of Storr, had a peek at Dunvegan Castle, played Scrabble and generally just chilled out. It was utter bliss. And the weather even behaved for a few days, giving us glorious sunshine and only a tiny bit of rain and mist over the three days. We felt blessed indeed, not least because our mode of transport for the weekend was Hamish, a blue VW campervan hired for us by lovely friends as a wedding present.

As this trip ended up being a belated celebration of our first wedding anniversary, we decided to treat ourselves with a dinner at The Three Chimneys, certainly the most famous restaurant in Skye, one of the most famous in Scotland and even the world. To my astonishment, it has never won a Michelin star - perhaps due to its remoter than remote location, who knows. But it's a wonderful place - cosy, welcoming, utterly lacking in pretension, and although undeniably pricey, for a special occasion it feels worth every penny.

We ate:

Warm Colbost crab tart with mixed cress and woodland sorrel butter
Seared breast of wood pigeon with celeriac remoulade, Ayrshire bacon and an Edinbane blaeberry jus
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Pan-fried Mallaig hake, skate and Sconser scallop with Anna potatoes, braised Puy lentils, Glengarry chanterelles and Orbost parsley sauce
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A quaich of dark chocolate with warm madeleines and vanilla ice cream
Marinated fresh pineapple with lime and chilli, passionfruit jelly, coconut ice cream, rosemary sorbet and cardamom biscuit
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Coffee and Chimneys sweeties

And then we rolled down the hill back to our illicitly parked campervan to dream sweet, tipsy dreams and listen to the waves lap the shores of Loch Dunvegan just a pebble's skip away. Bliss.