The Best Restaurants Near 1887, by the Record
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Upper Loch Torridon sits right outside the windows, mountains stacked behind it, and the restaurant inside The Torridon hotel leans into the drama with vivid decor and cooking to match. Modern tasting menus are built on Highland produce, swinging from classical to quietly strange, which earns it a Michelin star without making the room feel stiff. The whisky collection is extensive enough to keep you busy long after the plates are cleared.
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Named after the chef's childhood home and meaning "speckled rock," this small, simply furnished sharing-plates restaurant in Portree looks out toward the mountains it's named for. The kitchen leans on whatever the Isle of Skye provides, which turns out to be quite a lot: meat from the hills, seafood from the harbour just below. Service is chatty and warm, the kind that makes a small room feel like someone's front parlour.
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Rank 3. The Dipping Lugger
Modern British
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A stone lodge on the Isle of Skye that has been around forever, Edinbane Lodge serves a multi-course tasting menu built almost entirely on what the island and the Highlands produce. The chef grew up here, which shows in the specificity: local crockery, local suppliers, dishes that feel considered rather than composed. Bedrooms upstairs mean you don't have to negotiate the single-track road home in the dark.
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Rank 5. Station Road
Modern British
The bread comes from grains milled on-site, which tells you something about how seriously this hotel dining room takes its Scottish larder. Housed inside a country house at the edge of Loch Ness, the room is done in greens and browns that lean into the setting rather than fight it. The kitchen leans on garden vegetables, foraged mushrooms, and Highland lamb, while the wine list quietly champions English bottles over the usual suspects.
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Rank 6. Three Chimneys & The House Over-By
Modern British
A crofter's cottage on the edge of Loch Dunvegan that has been drawing people out to this far western corner of Skye for a very long time. Inside, low beams and exposed stone walls hang contemporary art, which is either a charming contrast or a very Skye thing to do. The kitchen leans hard on local seafood, which makes sense when the waters are right there. Overnight rooms are split-level and quietly stylish, with a residents' lounge that earns its view.