Review: How was my meal at Downright Gabbler restaurant in Beauly?

Here’s a good recipe for a night out.

Take a beautifully restored coaching inn in one of the Highlands’ nicest villages.

Place in it a large amount of relaxed atmosphere and a small pinch of guests.

Serve them great food made in-house from local ingredients.

Add in dollops of fascinating story-telling and some mystery objects.

And there you have one of the nicest ways to while away a Saturday night that I’ve had in a long time.

Garry Coutts and Jane Cumming started The Downright Gabbler in Beauly some five years ago.

They guided the Gabbler safely through the pandemic to make it one of the most quirky foodie offerings within easy reach of Inverness.

The concept is simple—fine fare cooked in house by daughter Kirsty, with natural raconteur Garry digging out fascinating local tales to regale the diners with between courses, and Jane working behind the scenes.

The restaurant is intimate in scale, and pre-booking is a must as there’s no scope for walk-ins.

How was the treacle bread and butter at Downright Gabble, Beauly?

Each night is themed, and it’s worth checking the website to find out what’s coming up, but there are several staples to book online: The Highland Banquet, six sumptuous courses with stories of Highland history; Living the Dram; a Write Good Night; also Tipsy Afternoon Tea and a Month of Sundays.

I was invited to a Gabbler Anthology evening, a selection of food and discourses from Living the Dram, Highland Banquet, Month of Sundays and A Write Good Night.

I took with me Susan Welsh Menzies, former food and drink reviewer of this P&J parish.

She had been to the Gabbler in its early days and couldn’t wait to get back.

There was a warming hot toddy to start, and the most delicious treacle bread and butter made its way to the table.

Very hard to hold back in a polite fashion. So we didn’t, and the treacle bread was no more within seconds.

From Living the Dram, the starters were leek and potato soup, haggis bon bon and beetroot remoulade.

All components delicious, particularly the juicy, crisp haggis bon bon.

Garry then regaled us with his first tale about the 15th century Book of the Howlet, a charming fable that tells of a poor wee baby owl who thinks he is ugly, until he receives colourful feathers from all the other birds, with unintended consequences.

Highland beef cheek had me drooling

This food for thought was followed by the main course, from the Highland Banquet and Month of Sunday menus.

Highland beef cheek in a crispy crumb on pomme puree, roast potatoes and seasonal veg.

Say beef cheek to me and I’m already drooling. To me it’s one of the most tasty of cuts, and difficult to find at your local butchers without pre-ordering.

Kirsty shreds the meat, forms it into a ball and encases it in crispy crumbs.

Yes please, I’d have that all day long.

Next Garry told us about some of the women who made a huge contribution to our National Drink.

Many people think of whisky as being both a man’s drink and a man’s business, but stand aside, gents, and marvel at the women behind Cardhu, Lagavulin and Macallan.

Feisty women play a part in many of the stories at the Downright Gabbler including one Garry told us about Catherine Blair, who in the early 1900s brought the Women’s Rural Institute to Scotland.

Deconstructed teacake for dessert at The Downright Gabbler, Beauly

Dessert was a positive tour de force.

Deconstructed Teacake, ‘our homage to Scotland’s favourite delicacy’, the Tunnocks tea cake, from A Write Good Night.

With a rich, velvety ganache, light Italian meringue, tangy raspberry coulis and a caramelised oat crumb this is the tea cake to end all tea cakes.

Tea or coffee rounded off the meal with rounds of Kirsty’s renowned shortbread.

Then Garry passed around what looked like three small glasses and asked us to guess what they were designed for.

None of us got them right but they were absolutely intriguing. If you want to know the answer I encourage you to go along to one of the dinners yourself.

The verdict

Make no mistake, when Downright Gabbler makes the ‘we buy local claim’, they certainly walk the walk.

Meat, game, fruit, veg, microgreens, milk and cheese, including vegan cheese all come from the Highlands, much of it from an impressively small radius around Beauly and the Black Isle.

It’s easy to source Highlands and islands whiskies of course, but the gin, rum and vodka are also from these parts, and the tonic from Summerhouse in Aberdeenshire.

Another enjoyable aspect of dining at the Gabbler is the attention to detail.

Fine glassware, cutlery, china and proper linen sourced from local antique and vintage shops add a special gracious something to the experience.

Unlike the occasion Susan told me about recently in which she and her husband had been in a hotel in Inverness and ordered coffee.

Her husband was handed the cup and asked if he would like the plate to go with it. He felt he had to point out to the young waiter that the ‘plate’ is actually known as a saucer.

A delightful evening with good food and good company, what more can you ask for?

Scores:

Food: 4.5/5

Service: 4.5/5

Surroundings: 5/5

Information

Address: High Street, Beauly IV4 7DT

T:  01463 782800

Mobile:  07979 596 594

Website: https://downrightgabbler.co.uk/events/

If you want to stay over, the family offers luxury apartments above the Gabbler and in the former Lord Lovat’s waiting room at Beauly Station.

Price: The Anthology was £49, and the variously themed Gabbler menus start at £35 and reach £97 for the seven-course Highland Banquet tasting menu with drinks.

Disabled access: Yes

Dog-friendly: Yes, for exclusive use bookings.