Hoping for a holiday abroad soon our restaurant reviewer finds a taste of the Mediterranean at home in an unassuming eatery on the coast.
Gambas pil-pil is one of those exotic dishes you hear before you see – it usually makes a grand entrance from the kitchen hissing and spitting like a steam train.
The sizzling “pil-pil” sound signals a boiling concoction of king prawns and chopped garlic, with chillies and hot oil, which gives off a cloud of delicious aromas.
It’s very Spanish, of course, and now a gambas dish landed on my wife’s side of our table for lunch.
It made us long for our next journey to the Mediterranean, possibly next month if we are lucky with Covid travel restrictions. But for now The Galley at the pretty little harbour of Whitehills in Banffshire was our piece of Spain.
It was warm and sunny, up in the mid 20s, with a gentle light breeze; perfect for outdoor dining.
Just yards away and below us were about 30 small yachts and fishing boats tucked up safely behind the harbour walls.
As in Spain, accents from different places floated by to remind us of the tourist pull of this lovely coastline, perhaps now more attractive still as a Covid staycation.
The Galley is a seafood restaurant and snack cafe catering for all tastes and the nation’s favourite – fish and chips – still has a special place on the menu.
But it rubs shoulders with dishes which would not be out of place on a top-end menu, and some have that distinct Spanish twist.
Stumbling across this place was a happy accident – we had a council repair man in nearby Portsoy to thank for guiding us here.
We turned up for a day trip along this coastal stretch without a plan and ravenous after missing breakfast.
While admiring the harbour’s good looks, we wondered why they were not making more of the Peaky Blinders connection in Portsoy.
Some scenes for the hit 1920s Brummie gangster drama’s next series were filmed in Portsoy. I don’t mean anything too overpowering, but just to tap into the show’s worldwide appeal.
Unfortunately, we could not see anything to match our appetite, so asked the council workman for his advice and he redirected us to Whitehills a short drive away.
As we rolled up to The Galley – a long, low building in Harbour Place – we spied only one unoccupied table outside, which was no surprise on this lovely sunny day.
I hurried across and almost dived on to it to prevent anyone else beating us to it. Luckily, it wasn’t reserved.
We needed that table as we had our puppy with us. The friendly and welcoming young women on serving duties were excellent and sorted her out with a big bowl of water first.
The food
I was blown away by the attractive menu: It was clearly not just a typical fish and chip joint with a fruit scone to follow.
With chef Colin Robb at the helm in the kitchen, this was probably no surprise – he used to be at the helm as skipper of a Banff-registered fishing boat. There is a picture of the Solstice outside on the restaurant wall.
So switching careers was not really a different kettle of fish for him.
Along with my wife’s gambas starter I ordered monkfish, king prawn and spicy Spanish chorizo sausage skewers from a specials list.
The gambas was pretty authentic, but not as fiery or crammed with sliced garlic as is often the case in Spain. My wife still loved it and I was allowed to mop up the delicious sauce with some of her tomato bread which came on the side. That’s one of the best things about this dish.
I was slightly deflated by my two skewers with salad leaves – a little small and dainty for my liking but tasty nonetheless.
At five pence short of £9 they were a bit steep. If they were double the size or half the price I would have been content.
The star of the show for me was my main course of Mediterranean fish stew. This type of combination in all its forms is one of my all-time favourites.
A rich herb and garlic tomato sauce held all the goodies in place – chunks of scallops, monkfish, haddock and rock turbot smothered with mussels.
More tomato bread was deployed on the sauce; I would have happily used a whole loaf. My mouth is watering just writing about it, so well done to the kitchen.
For my wife, duo of chicken and scampi: Battered chicken fillets and breaded scampi with salad and hand-cut chips.
In retrospect, the scampi was so good she wished she had asked for a plateful of that instead.
We indulged ourself at the end with creamy, mousse-like cheesecake and homemade fresh fruit pavlova, both with ice cream – perfect for a summer afternoon.
Behind us and across the road two men were readying a consignment of freshly caught fish packed in containers of ice on the quayside.
The Verdict
It felt like we were on holiday. With that in mind, we ambled to the harbour edge to take in stunning sea views across the Moray Firth towards Banff.
It’s a family-run business here and you can feel the love. This was one of those occasions when we set off full of apprehension and without a plan, but it turned out brilliantly; plain sailing, in fact.
Information:
Address: The Galley, Harbour Place, Whitehills Banff AB45 2NQ
T: 01261 861 116
W: thegalleywhitehills.co.uk
Price: £80
The Score:
- Food = 4/5
- Service = 4/5
- Surroundings = 4/5
