In the two years we have lived in Inverness, there’s one restaurant that has always been top of our list to visit.
Every time we walked past its doors – which frequently don a ‘fully booked’ sign – we’d peer in and say ‘someday’.
Rocpool Restaurant is one of the city centre’s most expensive and sought-after.
For some reason, the pedestal my boyfriend Aidan and I had put it on made it feel like we needed to wait for the perfect occasion to finally make a booking.
We reckoned a combination of work updates, the fact Aidan recently survived his first holiday with my family and finally finishing grouting the tiles in the kitchen presented us with exactly that.
So along we headed last Friday night.
Rocpool
We dressed up for the occasion, partly because Rocpool is on the fancier side of Inverness’s offering and party because why not?
Stepping off the busy street into the restaurant was like stepping into a different world of calm and cosiness, with a literal curtain over the door blocking out the outside world.
The restaurant is small, with a row of booths up the left side and a row of tables up the right. This meant you had your own privacy and space no matter where you sat.
We were immediately greeted by a smiling member of staff who took our coats – always a nice touch – and led us to one of the booths.
Smiling staff was a constant throughout the night, and we were made to feel welcome right to the very end of our visit. They were attentive without ever verging on pestering, with empty plates cleared swiftly and even a little banter being exchanged between us and them.
The friendliness of the staff and the relaxed decor stops people who aren’t used to fancier dining, like us, feel out of place at Rocpool. It’s true that the prices are higher than most other restaurants in Inverness, but the promise of high quality produce and exciting flavour combinations makes it worth it.
Plus, those tiles did not grout themselves, so we were celebrating.
The food
To us, celebrations and cocktails come hand in hand, so we were very pleased to see they had a few unique ones along with the classics.
Aidan loves a French 75 and was drawn in by their rhubarb take on it (£14.95), and I opted for a blood orange rum sours (£12.95). Both were incredible, fresh and zesty with the right balance of sweetness – we really had to remind ourselves not to see them off in one go.
We also ordered a bowl of olives for the table (£5), or for Aidan as I am not a fan, and he thoroughly enjoyed nibbling away at them throughout the meal.
As always, I skipped on a starter because I can never manage three courses and see dessert as a priority.
Aidan on the other hand could eat for Britain and chose the Scotch fillet of beef carpaccio with crisp fried artichokes, fresh rocket leaves and shaved Manchego cheese with gremolata (£15.95).
Sometimes I find the more expensive the food, the smaller the portions, but that certainly wasn’t the case here. His plate came covered in thin slices of beef with a healthy portion of salad.
Despite this it disappeared quickly and was thoroughly enjoyed. Aidan was keen to make sure I mentioned that the beef was so soft it was like “eating a cloud”, so there you go.
Onto our mains, though there were some incredible sounding meat and vegetarian dishes on the menu, we felt we couldn’t go to a restaurant called Rocpool and not order fish.
I went for roast fillet of wild North Sea halibut with shellfish bisque risotto, sweet clams, broad beans and fresh gremolata dressing (£35.95).
I’m a sucker for a shellfish bisque and I am prepared to confidently say this was the best risotto I have had in my life. There was a thin layer of it which meant it was light, not stodgy in the slightest and absolutely packed full of flavour.
The halibut was cooked beautifully, the clams added a pop of sweetness and the broad beans were fresh and a striking green against the fish.
Aidan’s brochette of Shetland monkfish and king prawns with spiced nduja butter, roasted tomato and chilli pearl cous cous with crumbled feta, yoghurt and shaved fennel salad (£32.95) was also delicious.
The monkfish was seasoned and cooked beautifully. There were a lot of flavours going on, but it was obvious each had all been added with thought and purpose.
Both mains were beautifully presented, as were all the other dishes, and really added to the meal feeling like something special.
We always pick desserts as a team, selecting two we both like the look of and swapping halfway through. Why settle for one dessert when you could try two?
We are both still talking about the white chocolate and coconut cheesecake with roasted pineapple and butterscotch (£9.95).
The butterscotch sauce was like nothing I had ever tasted before, sweet but with a slight bitterness, almost like the torched top of a creme brulee. I could have drank bottles of the stuff.
The cheesecake itself was silky smooth and a little like a pina colada in dessert form – just delicious.
Our second choice was the lemon meringue pie (£9.95) which was baked fresh and came out piping hot.
The pastry was thin and perfectly crisp, and the filling was tart and topped with fluffy meringue which melted in the mouth.
The verdict
We had been waiting to visit Rocpool for years and it couldn’t have been more worth the wait.
Walking home after our meal, we kept interrupting each other’s sentences with outbursts of ‘oh the risotto, ‘that cocktail though’, ‘I need more of that butterscotch sauce!’.
The service was incredible, the menu different without feeling overwhelming and the food sublime.
To anyone out there pondering over booking a table, I’d simply like to say do it.
Information
Address: 1 Ness Walk, Inverness IV3 5NE
T: 01463 717274
Price: £137.65 for two cocktails, olives, one starter, two mains and two desserts. A service charge was not added to the bill.
Scores:
- Food: 4.5/5
- Service: 4/5
- Surroundings: 4/5
Conversation