Restaurant review: Date night at Cafe 1 in Inverness

You can’t beat a bit of reminiscing.

When my parents first visited my boyfriend Aidan and I when we moved up here together, we went for dinner at Cafe 1 on Castle Street. We haven’t been back in the three years since – due to our goal to work our way around the city’s food offerings – but decided to take a trip down memory lane a few Fridays ago.

Cafe 1

Given that we don’t have children, I had completely forgotten it was the Easter holidays when we headed out for dinner, so the restaurant was packed – a great thing for the business.

Cafe 1 is a family-run business that has a farm over on the Black Isle so we were definitely expecting hearty food and high quality produce. We were greeted as soon as we arrived by multiple smiling faces who took our coats and showed us to our table.

There are no windows as you move through into the main restaurant, so it is on the darker side. I think this combined with how busy it was did make it feel a little cramped, and it was quite loud with chatter.

We had a few different members of staff at our table throughout the night which we never mind, especially when every one of them was kind and helpful. They all seemed genuinely interested in having a chat with us and we both agreed the team was a real highlight of our trip.

There are two sections in the main restaurant. Image: Sandy McCook / DC Thomson

The food

Both Aidan and I are cocktail people so we were pleased with the lengthy menu that included classics and the restaurant’s own creations. Aidan went for the former with a French 75 (£14) while I chose a pear and elderflower mojito (£10). The drinks were strong but not overpowering.

Perusing the food menu, we agreed quite quickly that it was on the pricier side. I didn’t remember that being the case from our previous visit, but I know the price of pretty much everything has risen since then.

There was lots to choose from on our charcuterie board. Image: Sandy McCook / DC Thomson

For starter, we shared the Scottish charcuterie board with pickles, chutney and Cullisse oil crostini (£10) which was on the specials menu for the night. There unfortunately wasn’t any information about what meats were on the board, but they were delicious. Aidan loved the pickled onions and salad that came with the meats too, there was a nice variety of picky bits on offer.

Our starter came out and was cleared quickly, but service slowed a bit from then on unfortunately. There was around 45 minutes between the two courses and no check-ins to let us know there would be a bit of a wait, which we would have appreciated. We both recognised the busy night might have been the cause of that.

I really enjoyed my halibut main course. Image: Sandy McCook / DC Thomson

I opted for the lemon and cherry tomato steamed Scottish halibut, nduja and samphire sauteed potatoes (£30) for my main course. The fish was beautifully cooked and the flavourful potatoes were a real standout on the plate with the perfect balance of spices. The samphire added the perfect salty hit and though I was worried it looked a little oily, it wasn’t at all. I do think the price was high for the dish, but the portion was generous.

The port sauce was rich and sweet. Image: Sandy McCook / DC Thomson

Aidan ordered the Angus fillet steak, crisp potatoes, mushroom duxelles, shallot puree, sprouting broccoli and port jus (£40). He had ordered the meat rare and, unfortunately, it was closer to medium when he cut into it. It was a gorgeous piece of meat, but a little charred on top. We debated sending it back, but we had waited so long for the mains and were worried about waiting longer, so he chopped off the top layer and enjoyed the rest.

Luckily, especially given the price, the accompaniments all went down a treat with the potatoes perfectly cooked, the broccoli maintaining a crunch and the port jus perfectly sweet.

I loved the addition of the honeycomb on my dessert. Image: Sandy McCook / DC Thomson

We had a little space left for dessert so chose the rhubarb crème brûlée and Belgian chocolate and salted caramel torte (£8.50 each). I loved the torte with the rich chocolate and light pastry. It was served with honeycomb too which added a great crunch.

The standout though was Aidan’s crème brûlée which he could have eaten ten times over. The sharpness of the rhubarb married well with the sweet custard and it had a great hit of vanilla.

The rhubarb crème brûlée was definitely a highlight of the evening. Image: Sandy McCook / DC Thomson

The verdict

We did really enjoy our dinner at Cafe 1. Highlights included the cocktails, the potatoes on my main dish and Aidan’s crème brûlée. The produce was all of high quality and the staff were lovely throughout.

However, it would be silly not to mention that this is one of the more expensive meals we have had in Inverness and we weren’t sure if that was justified with the service slowing and steak being overcooked.

I have no doubt we will be back in the future, but maybe on a quieter night.