Your Weekend enjoys a bite to eat in a restaurant with some of the finest mountain views in the UK
It is November and the leaves are starting to turn. The vibrant greens of summer are starting to fade and be replaced by the subtler shades of autumn.
Pale yellow, warm amber and fiery orange all have their place in a last glorious show of colour before the frost and winds rip them from the branches and leave the trees stark and bare until spring.
And following the dismal summer we have had it is fantastic to be enjoying such a glorious, benign period before winter sets in. It is sensible to make the most of it and get out an about, enjoy the fantastic views and get some air into the lungs. And what could be better than a drive along Loch Ness side and down the Great Glen where you really can see the colours of autumn at their best.
Sometimes, however, it can be hard to see the woods for the trees and you need to climb out of the valley to enjoy the whole fantastic vista that this magical part of Scotland offers.
So, on a whim, we decided to leave the car and get onto the high tops to survey the true majesty of the mountains and valleys. And standing close to the peak, gazing north to the razor-like ridges of Assynt, west to the brooding slopes of the Nevis range and east up through majestic glens while gazing down on both sea and fresh water lochs, my husband and I agreed it was worth every bit of effort.
Sounds impressive, doesn’t it. OK I confess. We cheated. We hadn’t slogged up the side of a mountain. In fact I don’t think we had even walked 100 yards in total. We had simply pulled into the car park at the Nevis Range Mountain Resort, paid our £12 each and hopped onto the gondola. And there we were 2,000 or more feet at the top of a mountain, masters of all we surveyed and not even out of breath. Mountaineering made easy.
And, what’s more, without any effort at all we could stroll from a wonderful viewing platform into a bright and welcoming cafe that promised some home cooked fare using locally sourced produce. What could be better?
I can’t begin to imagine what it’s like running a restaurant at over 2,000 feet. All of the staff, food, drinks and everything else have to be hauled up the mountain in the gondolas.
And I suppose so do your customers. Well, not all of them. We saw enough people in full hiking gear or on mountain bikes to realise that not everyone took the lazy option like we did. But for many people a hike up a mountain is probably not a realistic option and the gondola certainly gives young families older adults or people with mobility problems a chance to enjoy the view from a mountain summit they would never otherwise experience.
The Snowgoose restaurant will probably never feature in the Michelin guide but the food it offers is none the worse for that. Catering for a mixture of tourists and sports enthusiasts, this place knows its market well. Steaming bowls of soup, sandwiches, burgers, curry, steak pie fish and chips all feature along with a great range of cake, teas and coffees all feature and all boast being homemade from locally sourced produce.
I had the steak pie. I was a little disappointed that it was stew with a separately baked pastry lid placed on top. But having said that it was a delicious stew with a rich gravy packed with carrots and tender succulent beef. I had it with chips and beans and enjoyed every mouthful.
Hubby, true to form, went for the chicken curry and had that with both rice and chips. His reasoning for such a pig-out was that getting to the top of the mountain had given him an appetite and, while that did not cut much ice, it didn’t stop him polishing off the lot.
I had a scone with my tea while he chose an indulgent slice of caramel cake. And as he was on a roll tried a hot toddy made with a dram of the local Ben Nevis Whisky.
It was great to see the Snowgoose making a real effort to promote local produce and show visitors just how good Scottish food and drink can be. They were really promoting the tourist board’s Year of Food and Drink and creating opportunities for people to try products and brands they may not have seen or heard of before. This may be a cafe on top of a mountain often catering for snow boarders, climbers or mountain bikers who simply want a fuel stop before hurtling back down the slopes, but they really are making an effort.
And for fair-weather lazybones people like us they provide a relaxed day out with a difference.