I had a week's holiday on the beautiful Scottish island of Skye, and these are the best things I ate
I scoffed an awful lot of food on my holidays
To paraphrase Andy Stewart, “I’ve just come back from the Isle of Skye, I’m no very big and I’m awful shy, the lassies say when I go by, ‘Donald, where’s your troosers?’”
Well, mine have been temporarily retired. The drainpipes have, anyway. I’ve entered my loon pant/Oxford bags/palazzo era. I’m considering braces.
That’s because they’re not fitting too well after a week of heavy duty no-holds-barred YOLO scoffing on the Inner Hebridean island.
Only now do I understand what Stewart was going on about.
I hadn’t quite expected, when booking my week-long holiday and setting my out-of-office to “see-ya-later-losers!”, that there would be so many restaurant and cafe temptations coming my way. These are a few of the most memorable things that I ate.
1 The best scallop ever at the four-AA-rosette restaurant at Edinbane Lodge. Bigger doesn’t always equal better. However, in this case it really did. This hand-dived Loch Ainort pearlescent beauty, which was seared and served with a smoked dulse and cucumber sauce, was the size of a hen’s egg. Back in the water, it must’ve been kicking sand in the other scallops’ faces.
2 I had the perfect blueberry muffin at Lean To Coffee in Ashaig, near Broadford. I’m not usually a fan of this genre, especially while there are beguiling pastries and scones in their vicinity, but this tray of huge icing-sugar-dusted goodies was calling to me, as I queued at the door of their shipping container. Once I’d bagged my spoils, I had a happy moment, while sitting in the croft ruins that incorporate their semi-sheltered outdoor space. The caffeine from a strong flat white was hitting my bloodstream, the sun was beaming through the mizzle, and I was eating fluffy and feathery chunks of my purple fruit-studded cake. Joy. It may be a fleeting emotion, but it exists.
3 A slice of millionaire’s shortbread and another brilliant brew from roastery and takeaway Caora Dhubh Coffee Company, which is a neat wooden lochside hut just opposite Talisker Distillery in Carbost. I swear, the caramel was about three inches high, with a thin layer of snappy chocolate on top, just how I like it.
4 The Lochalsh beef brisket rarebit from Cafe Cuil was a squishy thing of cheesy and meaty poached-egg-topped beauty. This is what you’d want to eat, after tackling a long walk and a midgie attack where they’re coming at you like it’s a game of Space Raiders. We felt that we’d qualified for this hearty lunch, after a gentle 6000 step stroll and a rock scramble on the otherworldly black sandy Talisker Bay.
5 The venison salami and hot honey pizza at Gasta restaurant in Broadford. It tasted even better because of the delayed gratification, as we had to put our names on a list and wait 30 minutes for a table. You should be more organised than us, and book in advance as this place seems to be super popular. We were pretty much the last people who managed to bag a spot. I feel bad for those who came after us. They had to walk away, dejected, with the smell of Neapolitan crust wafting into their nostrils. I felt like throwing them a crumb or two, like they were sparrows.
6 A focaccia sandwich from Summer on Quay Brae in Portree. We found this place, via serendipity. Look out for the black bike parked outside. In the back of the shop, with lights made from upcycled laundry baskets, and using a counter that’s made from stacks of empty yellow Loch Dunvegan Shellfish Ltd containers, you can watch them create their airy and light focaccia. This pop-up place is like a swallow, in that it’ll only be here for the sunnier months, before swooping off until next year. We tried the vegan options of coronation chickpea, carrot salad, poppadom and aubergine pickle sannie, and the cheddar and roast pear, walnut pesto and dressed leaves number. They were so good, with soft bread that didn’t exfoliate the roof of your mouth. They serve great coffee, too, and if only I’d been left with space for a slice of that Basque cheesecake or a cookie.
7 Birch’s buttered leeks, asparagus and cheddar scrambled eggs on tin loaf. How did they make a humble dish like scrambled eggs taste so mind-blowingly good? It must be witchcraft, or the pesky tourist-baiting fairies that abound on the island. Anyway, everything they do in this six-year-old place is magic, from the banana and chocolate loaf to peanut butter cookies and the smoked pancetta, pesto and cheddar swirl pastry. And, of course, their own roastery’s coffee. I can see why they made number 50 of 100 on the World’s Best Coffee Shops 2026 list, and are the 15th finest in Europe.
8 The mysterious sounding Elgolyian roll. We’d taken a Misty Isles boat trip out to Loch Coruisk from the South Western village of Elgol. On our return, feeling ravenous, we found a food van The Creel that sold this bap. Basically, it’s a take on a Seventies prawn cocktail, except made with squat lobster in that Barbie pink sauce, all served on a fat white morning roll. And, we had to order the crab toastie too, as a side dish. It’d be rude not to.
NB. I'm aware that there were a million good places, from restaurant Scorrybreac to The Three Chimneys, Loch Bay Restaurant to The Oyster Shed and even Donnie’s Tablet Shed, that I didn’t make it to. There will be a next time, except maybe wearing more forgiving trousers.
Read more: “I've had 45 summer holidays on the bewitching Scottish island of Arran, but not this year”
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