An Lochan

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• What are these?

• Average price 2 courses:
   £11.95 (set lunch)
   £23 (evening meal)
• House wine: £15.95 per bottle

• Hitlisted
• High point: Seafood of superior freshness
• Low point: No sea views
• Food served: Tue-Sat noon-3pm, 6-9.30pm; Sun noon-3pm. Closed Mon.
• Open since: 2004
• Also offers: Childrens portions, Wheelchair access

The List's Eating & Drinking Guide 2008 is now in the shops.

This review is from the 2007 edition.

Enjoy a meal at An Lochan (formerly Café Royale) and you'll not only have chef Claire McKie to thank but also Mary, Shonna, Arthur and Winston. These ladies and gentlemen are responsible for catching, gathering and shooting the scallops, oysters, langoustines and venison served here, and at the mothership hotel and restaurant of the same name in Tighnabruaich, on the Kyles of Bute in Arygll. Sourcing doesn't get much more accountable, and the benefits become obvious when you're presented with half a dozen fat langoustines as a starter, served cold with lemon mayonnaise and tasting as fresh, sweet and clean as if you were eating them on the beach, seconds after pulling them out of the sea yourself. Shellfish is sensibly kept pure and simple here, but there's plenty of creative cooking going on too, with a superlative Cullen skink, a venison terrine, fillet of beef en croûte and a goat's cheese soufflé indicative of the regularly changing menu. For dessert, there are light and subtle versions of old stalwarts such as apple crumble and cloutie dumpling, or there's an enterprising selection of interesting Scottish farmhouse cheeses. Helpings are generous and prices reasonable. Sure, one could drop £27 on a seafood platter, but a main course of three sea bream fillets on a bed of roasted peppers and new potatoes is about a dozen quid. The smart dining room is decorated with appropriately fishy pictures and artefacts, and filled with light from big windows opening onto Crow Road. Relaxed and inexpensive enough to count as a drop-in for Hyndland locals, An Lochan is also well worth travelling for.