Creative cocktails and dessert at The White House in Inverness

Like many people I know, my Instagram feed seems to be increasingly dominated by food.

I like to keep it local so that I am at least being enticed by things I can actually get my hands on.

Luckily, Inverness isn’t huge, so my boyfriend Aidan and I are slowly working our way around all the restaurants. Our most recent trip was to The White House, whose photos had been tickling my fancy for a fair while.

The White House

The White House is probably best known for its cocktails and I had heard great things about those, but not too much about the food. We headed along one dreary Sunday evening and I was glad to see it was bustling despite the day and the weather.

We liked the stylish interior. Image: Sandy McCook/DC Thomson

I loved the interior, it was stylish and a bit funky without being tacky, with exposed brickwork and twinkly fairy lights. There are multiple different seating areas so there is a divide between those in for a quiet meal and those in for a few rounds and a good time.

The welcome was a warm one and all the staff we spoke to were lovely throughout the night with the perfect amount of chat. The menus we were handed were a little dirty, but otherwise we couldn’t fault our surroundings.

The food

It took us a long time to select our cocktails as the menu was extensive and really fun. We settled on one each since it was a Sunday, plus some of them were a little on the pricey side so we didn’t want to break the bank.

The White House in Inverness is known for its cocktails. Image: Sandy McCook/DC Thomson

I had a pear and raspberry mojito (£9.50) which I really enjoyed, it had lots of fresh raspberry through it and it wasn’t sickly sweet. You don’t often get pear in cocktails and I’ll definitely be looking out for it more. Aidan had a ginger paloma with tequila, grapefruit and ginger ale (£7.50). It was full of flavour without being too strong, another hit for The White House.

My pear and raspberry mojito. Image: Sandy McCook/DC Thomson

We always start a meal with olives and the marinated ones they served us up were tasty; very garlicky and not too briny (£4).

I wasn’t feeling up to three courses so skipped on a starter, but Aidan chose the pork and black pudding pie (£7), purely because we had never seen a pie and mash for a starter before.

He was really impressed with the punchy flavour of the pie and said the mash was silky smooth, and the red onion chutney it was served with added a little sweetness too. His only complaint was the tiny dish it was served in, which made it a little difficult to cut.

Pork and black pudding pie starter. Image: Sandy McCook/DC Thomson

For my main, I ordered the vegan katsu curry (£17). I love a katsu from Wagamama so that is probably what drove me to this decision. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the soya schnitzel but I really enjoyed it, the texture was just like chicken and it was perfectly crisp.

The sauce was mildly spiced, I thought it could have been a little more punchy but I still really enjoyed it. The rice was well cooked, though sticky rice might have been a better partner for the curry.

Vegan katsu curry. Image: Sandy McCook/DC Thomson

In true British fashion, Aidan opted for the battered North Sea haddock (£18). We both audibly gasped when the dish was served, the fish itself was huge. Despite its size, the batter was wonderfully light and the fish fresh.

The chips were a little on the dark side and were more crunchy than fluffy. The salad that came with my main was dressed but Aidan’s wasn’t and he felt it was a little bland without the added flavour.

Battered North Sea haddock. Image: Sandy McCook/DC Thomson

The true star of our meal was the dessert. We decided to share and went for the banana sticky toffee pudding with caramel sauce and ice cream (£8).

It was like the best lockdown banana bread you could make, but even better. It was piping hot and perfectly gooey, light but rich and a great balance between sweet and slightly salted caramel. The ice cream mellowed out the dish and we were fighting over the caramel sauce left on the plate after we finished the pudding.

Our banana sticky toffee pudding dessert at The White House in Inverness. Image: Sandy McCook/DC Thomson

The verdict

We had a pleasant evening at The White House and the staff were lovely. The food was enjoyable, but we weren’t blown away by most of it. The dessert, however, was something special.

The cocktail menu did excite us too and we were impressed with what we had, so we agreed we’d definitely be back with friends for a drink or two.