CONTIN is a tiny wee hamlet just a short hop from Strathpeffer and a pleasant 30-minute car drive from Inverness.
It’s basically a pretty, one-street town with not a lot to distract passers-by, so how I managed to miss the sign marking the entrance to the Coul House Hotel is a bit of a mystery.
Missing it once is one thing, passing it twice quite another. I blame my satnav system, better known as my sister-in-law, for paying too much attention to the spectacular scenery instead of looking out for the sign marking the hidden entrance to the hotel.
Third time lucky, we found it, and immediately found ourselves on a gorgeous sweeping driveway, the sort one could imagine being used in a Merchant Ivory period film.
At the end of the drive sits a handsome gabled mansion, complete with sweeping lawn where, occasionally, peacocks like to stroll as red kites circle lazily in the sky above.
Should you be out for a walk, it’s a fantastic sight, while those enjoying a game of putting on the hotel’s private course can, hand on heart, claim their game involved a birdie.
The wildlife can also be enjoyed from within the main dining-room, a gorgeous octagonal room with an 18ft ceiling, traditional tall fireplace and three floor-to-ceiling windows offering views across the gardens towards the Strathconon valley and the mountains beyond.
Before being shown to our table by the smartly dressed waitress, we enjoyed a pre-dinner drink, complimentary olives and a good old blether in the adjacent bar, a nice country-house-style room where residential and non-residential guests relaxed before being asked to the dining-room.
Conversation was halted, temporarily, as we studied the menu created by head chef Garry Kenley, a talented chap originally from Inverness who spent several years in America working with hotel owners Stuart and Susannah Macpherson.
On learning Garry is a traditionalist who makes his own breads, pastries and desserts, I silently wished I’d worn an outfit with a little more Lycra in the waistband.
The selection of 11 starters all sounded lovely, with several unusual dishes such as hickory smoked rabbit saddle and Highland seafood consomme. Being a cheese devotee, I opted for the old-style fried bread fondue, which clearly wasn’t the slimmer’s special of the day but sounded too good to resist. Mrs satnav plumped for the Finnan haddock, leek and potato risotto tart.
I wasn’t sure what to expect of the fondue, and what I was presented with certainly surprised me – a big bowl with large wedges of slow-roasted crispy bread sitting in a sea of strong Scottish cheese and spring onion sauce laced with garlic and white wine. The fondue sauce was fantastic, rich and creamy with just enough wine and garlic to lift it out of the ordinary and into the extraordinary.
Across the table, my sister-in-law was equally happy with her choice. Made with west-coast haddock and laced with leek and potato topped with shavings of Parmesan cheese and basil puree, it had a delicate, sweet and tangy flavour which lingered pleasantly in the mouth.
The hotel has an extensive wine list, and for those not driving or who like to indulge, there’s plenty to keep you happy. As I don’t possess any great wine-tasting skills, I settled for a rather lovely glass of house red, Merlot, which hit the spot nicely.
For mains, I ordered slow roast shank of lamb and my dinner guest chose baked fillet of salmon. Both were beautifully presented in a way that was stylish without being twee.
Lamb shank is an old, traditional dish and I usually hate it when chefs insist on giving it a makeover. There’s always the exception to the rule, and Garry’s dish is it. Instead of being served with traditional veg, it came with a flavour-packed boursin, chive and onion potato cake, puy lentils, garlic sausage, a black olive tapenade and mint hollandaise.
It may sound like an odd combination of ingredients, but it worked beautifully. I don’t know when I last enjoyed a meat dish that was sexy without being sexed-up.
The salmon was also a fusion of old and new as it came with a vegetable, potato and brie frittata, with sauteed French beans flavoured with bacon and garlic butter, a mild spiced lemon barley kooba and tomato confit cappuccino. It’s not often salmon excites us, but this dish looked so good it had us talking long into the night.
While head chef Garry was working at the Atlantic Hotel in Guernsey, he achieved the honour of making the hotel the first to win restaurant of the year three years running; earned two coveted rosette awards from the AA, and became listed in the Michelin restaurant guide.
Owners Stuart and Susannah, a lovely couple who happily chat to all, are confident it will not be long before more honours are bestowed upon him while he is at Coul House Hotel.
If his dishes continue to be innovative and of such a high standard, he should have no problem.
Despite his obvious talent, we decided to pass on the desserts and have coffee and a shared cheese board instead. Smooth, rich coffee and a lovely selection of local hard and soft cheeses, served with biscuits, apple, celery and, rather unusually, pickled walnuts, rounded off the meal nicely.
The bill for our superb Highland feast came to just over £60.
As the sun set slowly in the west, the dining-room was bathed in glorious colours, and as we relaxed over coffee, we chatted about who the people depicted in a large painting of the hotel hanging over the fireplace could be.
It proved to be a painting commemorating an 1888 visit to the hotel, then a mansion built for Sir George Mackenzie, by none other than Queen Victoria.
I wonder if they will commission one to mark the visit of the Press and Journal restaurant spies. Now wouldn’t that be exciting?
Coul House Hotel, Contin, Ross-shire. Phone 01997 421487, or visit www.coulhousehotel.com