Dinner At The Seaview Restaurant At The Bandstand Hotel, Nairn Scotland
Published On Friday 12 Jul 2024 by Sticky Beak
See Recent Dining Out Reviews | See All Recent Reviews
The halfway point of our foray into Scotland for The Man Birds’ day job saw us pitch up in Nairn, just outside Inverness. It had been a beautiful, if long, journey and we were very happy to pull up into the car park of Aurora Guesthouse! So far, we have dropped very lucky with our accommodation; everywhere has been clean and the rooms spacious...and nearby restaurants have served up some tasty grub – fingers crossed our luck would continue.
On our journey from Edinburgh to Inverness we’d literally encountered four seasons in one day, though only got caught in one sharp shower. Thankfully, our luck seemed to be holding out as we walked the half-mile or so from Aurora to the Seaview restaurant, and although it wasn’t warm, it wasn’t exactly Baltic either, so my denim jacket sufficed.
From the pavement, The Bandstand Hotel, Bar and Restaurant is pretty unremarkable; it has your fairly average stone exterior that makes it attractive enough, but not breath-taking. Heading inside, we saw your typical bar area and introduced ourselves. One of the team showed us through to the restaurant and to our table that was right beside the window, looking out over the green and to the coast and Moray Firth (easy to see how the restaurant got its name!!).
Seaview restaurant at The Bandstand is a spacious, open-plan venue and it was well over half full when we arrived, so there was a lively bubble of chatter and laughter filling the room. I’m not sure whether a bit of ‘travel fever’ had kicked in, but we found ourselves ordering a bottle of Viognier to go with our food – paired with a hefty jug of iced water that one of the team brought straight over when we’d been seated. Raffia high-back chairs are paired with simple, sturdy wood tables and shades of marine blues and coastal earth tones create a cosy, relaxed vibe.
To start, I had the Steamed West Coast Mussels (£11) served in a ‘sauce of the week’ (pale ale, onion and Bacon on this occasion), and I opted to have the toasted Sourdough instead of skin-on fries with them. His Nibs chose the Mini Quesadillas (£8.50), a trio of delights each filled with a different treasure: Spiced Chicken, BBQ Pulled Pork, and Cheese, Chilli and Caramelised Onion. These were accompanied by a homemade Salsa and Sour Cream.
We weren’t waiting long before our lovely server was making her way over with our food secured in her hands. For a starter portion, my Mussels were more than generous and the sauce was bathing them nicely. I could see pieces of rose-pink Bacon and pale slivers of onion in the sauce, as well as plenty of fresh, finely chopped herbs. The Mussels themselves were plump and flavoursome, and I only had to discard one that hadn’t opening during the steaming process – not a bad hit-rate, I’m sure you’ll agree. I’m accustomed to having a white wine based sauce with Mussels, but having sampled this variety, I have to say that pale ale goes rather nicely with the seafood, too. The large piece of griddle charred Sourdough soon got ripped into pieces and dunked into the sauce; you know what I’m like for dunking! Our server was clearly one step ahead of my needs and had thoughtfully provided a finger bowl of warm water with a slice of Lemon in, perfect for cleaning sauce-splashed fingers.
Across the table, His Nibs was busy ploughing his way through the sizeable portion of food he’d been served: mini the Quesadillas may have been described as, but mini they weren’t when it came to satiating The Mans’ initial hunger. Each fully-stuffed Tortilla had a distinct flavour profile, making it perfect for sharing as a Tapas dish with friends or for those who don’t quite know what they fancy! The fresh, crunchy Salsa was superb, both in terms of taste and colour and gave a great textural element to this dish. Soured Cream added a zip of tanginess on the palate, ably assisted by the ample Chillies in one of the Queso’s.
On this particular evening I was definitely in the market for seafood and fish, following up my starter with Pan-roasted Monkfish on a bed of Coconut and Apricot Cous Cous and a crispy Onion-topped Chickpea, Butternut Squash and Spinach Curry (£23.50). For his main course, The Man couldn’t decide between the Pork Cheek and Confit Garlic Ragu with Pappardelle (£19.50), the Homemade Steak and Ale Pie (£18.50) or the Moray Firth Haddock and Chips (£18); eventually he settled on the Ragu, and both meals weren’t long in arriving.
Pasta is marvellous to eat when it still has that gentle hint of bite to it (al dente) and the thick ribbons had been cooked to perfection here in Nairn. Pappardelle is the perfect accompaniment to rich Ragu’s as its generous girth allows them to cling beautifully and be gobbled up! Confit Garlic has a bewitchingly tender taste and it partnered the creamy flavour of the pulled Pork meat marvellously. The Parmesan and Herb crust added another layer for the taste buds to appreciate, as did the lively, peppery leaves of the Rocket salad that also came with this plentiful dish.
Having worked (and managed) restaurants himself for many years, His Nibs knows that there’s no finer compliment than clean plates going back to the kitchen, so we weren’t surprised to see our server smiling broadly as she took a pair of squeaky clean ones away from us. Chef Iain Gordon uses local, fresh produce and the results speak for themselves: ours weren’t the only dishes that were pristine, post-munching!
Much as we wanted to – and we really did – we just couldn’t manage a pudding, so we contented ourselves with a couple of black coffees to round off our time at Seaview. The coffee beans were ground freshly as we ordered, so we got their full, rich aroma wafting to our nostrils when the cups were placed carefully on the table. It was a delicious, robust coffee blend: perfect for finishing a meal with.
Given how generous the portions were, we paid the bill and went for a wander down to the beach, taking in the dying rays of the days’ sun. The breeze coming off the sea was fairly bracing and blew away the post-prandial cobwebs as we looked out over the Scottish shoreline.
Hot Wings are happily given to this Nairn restaurant, both for the food and the service. To book a table call 01667 452341 or visit the website www.thebandstandnairn.co.uk where you can check room availability and view the food menus.
Sunday Lunch At The Milbourne Arms, Holywell Village, Whitley Bay It's the time of year that Northumberland beckons, so His Maj, Mummy Bird and I had rented a bungalow in Beadnell for the week. Whilst we might be on our jollies Read The Article | |
A Return Visit To The Farmers Arms, Brompton-On-Swale WooHooooo, The Flock is on holiday baybee!! Well, me, His Nibs and Mummy Bird are; Fledge and The beau are house-sitting. Northumberland is our final destination, Read The Article | |
Out For Dinner At Hart's Hotel And Kitchen, Nottingham Hart's Hotel and Kitchen holds many happy memories for The Man and I, so we were overjoyed to receive an invitation to dine in the 2 AA-Rosetted restaurant, Hart's Kitchen Read The Article | |
Out For Breakfast At The Recently Opened All Things Nice Cafe In Dronfield Woodhouse I love community spirit; after all, if you don't support things in your locale, can you really have a sense of belonging? At the beginning of August 2024 Read The Article | |
Sunday Lunch With Friends At The School House Restaurant In South Normanton Having so many fab eateries in the Shire means that we don't always get back to some venues as soon as we'd like, and The School House in South Normanton Read The Article | |
Trying Out The New Brunch Menu At Wagamama At The East Midlands Outlet Our Flock loves Wagamama anyway, so we were thrilled to receive an invitation to try their newly launched Brunch Menu, especially since it's only available at a limited Read The Article | |
Dinner At Junior Poon Chinese Restaurant & Wine Bar In Clevedon Often, life can get in the way of the more enjoyable things we like to do, but on this occasion The Mans' day job allowed us to combine work with pleasure. After some Read The Article | |
A Celebration of Seafood and Champagne At The Cavendish Hotel, Baslow There's no denying it; The Man and I are blooming lucky! What other way could we describe ourselves as we accepted the invitation to dine at the Cavendish Read The Article | |
Sunday Lunch At The Willow Tree Cafe & Bistro At The Hilcote Country Club After the recent calamities that have befallen Mummy Bird, we are finally starting to get back in the saddle and venture out more. This particular Sunday saw us Read The Article | |
Dinner At The Newly Opened Cosy Club In Sheffield The Man Bird and I are huge fans of the Cosy Club guys, so we were thrilled to be invited along to check out the Sheffield site that is joining its Derby and Nottingham cousins. Read The Article | |