Three Chimneys Restaurant Review, Isle of Skye, Scotland

We’re not ones to usually post restaurant reviews on this blog, but we recently had a dinner that was so far over the top that we thought we’d share our experience.

On the Isle of Skye, Scotland, is a totally out-of-the-way restaurant that embraces local ingredients and offers a multi-course dining experience such as what one might find at famous Michelin-starred restaurants in New York, Napa, or Paris.

Dinner at The Three Chimneys restaurant can be either a traditional three-course meal, or the spectacular Seven Courses of Skye. We had the seven-course dinner (which with appetizer, cheese, and dessert turned out to be more like 9 or 10 courses), and would suggest that if you’ve traveled that far for a meal you might as well go with the best.

Not on the list of the seven courses is an amuse bouche (appetizer) of the day. This was followed by....

Loch Dunvegan Langoustines with Tattie Scones & Glendale Organic Mesclun

Colbost Crab risotto with Shellfish Essence and Truckle Wafer

A Selection of Broadford Cold & Hot-Smoked Fish with Croft Quail Eggs

Sconser King Scallop with Hazelnut Crust, Pickled Winkles, Split Pea & Ham Hough Purry, Claret Jus

Three Loch Harport Oysters with Cucumber & Mint Jelly, Homemade Crème Fraiche, Smoked Herring Roe

Roast Glenhinnisdal Lamb Loin with Kidney, Heart, Liver & Hairst Bree

Highland Cheeses with Our Oatcakes

Three Chimneys Hot Marmalade Pudding Soufflé with Drambuie Syrup & Mealie Ice Cream

When we were there, this menu was £65 per person – an astounding bargain. We started the meal with a half bottle of Domain Seguin Pouilly Fume 2006 (Sauvignon Blanc)

and continued with a premier cru white Burgundy as our main wine – a Marie & Marc Vincent Santenay Beaurepaire 2003 (Chardonnay). Both wines were excellent, and good matches for the primarily seafood menu.

The wait staff are young and reasonably knowledgeable, and asked each diner if there was any part of the seven courses that they couldn’t eat, as a substitution or two was available. Francesca declined the lamb course, and thus had another fish offering.

Pan-Fried Mallaig Hake & Razor Fish with Root Vegetable Dauphinoise, Puy Lentils,
Cumin Cauliflower, Orbost Herb & Garlic Salsa

Overall, we’d say it was one of the best meals of our lives.

You'll definitely need reservations very far in advance at the Three Chimneys Restaurant.

French Presidential Burgers

The BBC is showing a video of a French take on burgers, based on the two U.S. presidential candidates. Our question, what wines go best with each burger?

“US presidential burgers are on the menu at an upmarket Parisian hotel named after the Marquis de Lafayette, who fought alongside George Washington in the American Revolution.

While Americans are fans of French Fries, the French can now chose between the two presidential candidates.

Barack Obama fans go for the O'Burger, a Hawaiian-style sandwich - with shrimps, pineapples, curry and herbs. It pays tribute to the island state where the Democratic candidate spent most of his youth.

But fans of red-meat Republican candidate John McCain opt for the Elephant Burger. It featuring southwest-style ingredients popular in his home state of Arizona, including guacamole, mildly spicy salsa and grilled lamb.”

Our wine choice would be a Beaujolais Nouveau to accompany the McCain burger, and a Loire Chenin Blanc to go with the Obama burger – French wines with French food. But since the candidates are American, how about these two American wines instead: McCain - Bogel Petite Sirah; Obama - Grgich Hills Sauvignon Blanc.

No vegetarian onion burgers for these candidates.

Vacation

We’re off to Scotland for the next 3 weeks. Visiting the Highlands and Islands; driving on the other side of the road; sampling a wee dram of Whiskey here and there. We are planning to get away from technology as much as possible, so we’re NOT taking a computer and don’t plan on any posting. Also, that means any comments to this blog won’t be moderated until we return. See you all again in late September.

For your enjoyment until then, here are a few of our totally biased “best of” entries from the past year:

Our House Wine List
Famous Fish Tacos
Wine Tasting Travel Tips
French Onion Soup
Teriyaki Salmon with Mushroom Risotto

Welsh Rabbit (Rarebit) Recipe

A lot of words have been spent justifying calling melted cheese on toast Welsh Rabbit or Rarebit. The consensus seems to be that Rabbit is the original phrase.

Ken’s dad was arguably the world’s most un-creative cook. If you’ve ever suffered through “pizza” topped with canned tomato sauce, pieces of cooked ham, and canned green chilies, you’d understand. Anyway, he did have one excellent signature creation – Welsh Rabbit.

Our version is pretty close to Dad’s. It’s basically a roux white sauce, to which beer and cheddar cheese is added. It works well thick over toast, or thinner as a cheddar cheese sauce for vegetables, baked potatoes, or other dishes. Here’s our version (remember, we don’t measure much).

• Melt 2-3 tbsp of butter in a saucepan
  
• Add equal quantity of flour, cook on low heat for a minute or so
• Add maybe 1/4 cup milk, and stir constantly
• Add some beer (another 1/4 cup) - a good beer, please, not some watery American "light"
• Season with some combination of prepared Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, white pepper, sage, thyme, a tiny pinch of nutmeg, and either a dash of cayenne or a shake of Tabasco-type sauce
• Add grated Cheddar cheese 1/2 cup at a time, alternating cheese with beer until you have your desired consistency (thicker for traditional Rabbit over toast; thinner as a cheese sauce)

Tonight we had a thinner sauce over leftover broccoli-mushroom popovers and some pan-braised asparagus (please don’t ask us where that came from in January). Our wines were leftovers, too – a dry Riesling for Francesca and a hearty Zinfandel for Ken. Both worked well.

“Go With Anything” Wines

Are there wines that can truly go with anything? Within reason, we think it’s possible. The wine would be white or rose (pink, blush, whatever you want to call them), have some acidity, and just the barest touch of sweetness. These wines won’t necessarily be the “best” with certain foods, but we think they can go with anything – steaks, burgers, asparagus, artichokes, salads, fish, shellfish, even some cheeses. (To us, that may actually be the toughest “go-with-anything” challenge. We think most cheese needs a completely dry wine, but try some of our following ideas and see what you think.) So, our choices for wines that you could take to a dinner where you don’t know what’s being served, or wines to have on hand just in case you can’t think of what to open with a particular meal.

• Beringer White Zinfandel
• Cristalino Rose Brut Cava
• Chateau Ste. Michelle Riesling

If you can’t find (or don’t like) these particular wines, look for something similar – any Spanish Cava, a dry-ish Rose, a not-too-sweet Riesling. You might also experiment with Gewurztraminer, Chenin Blanc, or maybe even a light-weight Pinot Grigio.

Food and Wine Pairing

There was an interesting article in the January 19 Wall Street Journal about Tim Hanni, who has developed a wine consulting business and a method to help pair wine with hard-to-match foods. He also is promoting “progressive wine lists,” and we’ve shopped in wine stores where basic wine progressions similar to his were used (light-bodied whites, medium, full, etc.). Hanni’s credentials are impeccable – one of the first Americans to pass the “Master of Wine” exams – yet some of his recommendations seem odd to us. We really don’t want our asparagus to taste like salt and lemon juice (his basic spice suggestion) just so we can drink a big Bordeaux with it – just pass the white Zinfandel and we’ll enjoy it just fine.

Wine and food pairing is an art – just as food and spice pairing is. Try some of our “cheap” wine suggestions from this blog with different foods. If something doesn’t taste good together, open another cheap bottle of something else. To us, that’s far better than changing the flavor of the food we so carefully created.

Leftover Wines & Shrimp Louie

On July 5, 2007
DINNER
After a hike in the hot sun for Kenneth Juan and a bike ride in the hot sun for me, we decided a nice cool salad sounded splendid for dinner. Our Shrimp Louie Salad was built on arugula topped with purple onion, radishes from our garden, hard-boiled free-range local eggs, orange pepper, tomato, and a sauté (wine, homemade garlic olive oil, parmesan cheese) of mushrooms & shrimp. The piece de resistance -- Thousand Island dressing.

WINE
Leftovers – nice cold whites.