Prime Steak and Seafood, Inverness, Scotland

Here’s another post from my good friend and Senior Roving Correspondent, Darryl Morin. Darryl is a remarkable person, a business leader, a great citizen, and a terrific judge of food, most especially steaks, but food in general. Darryl and his wife, Angela, have two sons, Nathaniel and Matthew, and the older, Nathaniel, is in the Air Force stationed in England. Well, in the United Kingdom. They naturally go over to see him from time to time, and to see the world while they’re at it.

Darryl sent me a report from Scotland a long while back, and it’s been sitting my In Deeper box. I finally dug it out and here’s a rare treat from the land of Burns and Haggis. I’ll note right here that Darryl is a bit of a chef himself and has very high standards when it comes to steaks in particular. His report begins with a headline:

A SURPRISE FIND! PRIME IS OUTSTANDING, CASUAL & FULL OF EXCELLENT FLAVORS!

As our family traveled across the Highlands of Scotland, we spent a night in Inverness. My wife found an Instagram post with a photo of the chateaubriand at PRIME Restaurant (Steak & Seafood) in the heart of Inverness.

It looked amazing and I was surprised I did not find it on any of my top restaurants to try travel lists. Based on the Instagram photo alone we gave it a try. Simply put, we walked away full, and not just satisfied, but amazed.

I smoke/grill various meats regularly so my family and I have palettes that look for flavor, texture and tenderness. We also appreciate a comfortable dining experience. Prime provided us with this and more. It was the best meal we have had in some time. We all appreciate a good piece of meat cooked to our individual temperature preferences and Prime cooked each piece of meat perfectly to temperature. My youngest son and I shared the chateaubriand (medium),

my eldest son had the ribeye (rare),

and my wife the filet (medium-rare).

We tried a wide-range of sides from smoked spiced pink peppercorn green beans with parmesan cheese, sweet potato fries with crumbled feta and rosemary, skinny (potato) fries, garlic crushed potatoes, garlic button mushrooms, macaroni & cheese, salad and more. Each bite was flavorful in a well-considered way. The introduction of flavors was innovative without being pretentious and were enjoyed by our entire family (15 year-old and up). My wife and I enjoyed our meals with a bottle of Prosecco. The portions were generous, the prices reasonable for the cuts we ordered, and the staff was friendly along with the other patrons.

If you are looking for a truly outstanding meal in a comfortable environment, you can’t do much better than eating at Prime Steak & Seafood in Inverness, Scotland. We give it our highest recommendation!

Prime is situated at 4-6 Ness Walk, just below the Ness Bridge.

This is a welcome review. Reports of the food in Scotland have deterred potential visitors, and ,indeed, maligning Scottish cuisine is an old game. Samuel Johnson, in his 1755 Dictionary of the English Language, defined the word oats as “A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people.” The iconic Scottish food is, of course, haggis, traditionally a sheep’s stomach turned inside out and stuffed with heart, lungs, liver, and oats.

That’s unfair. Scotland has generated a high cuisine of its own, and even haggis today is probably a mixture of wagyu, duroc pork, and foie gras in a shell of heritage oats. There are noble Scottish foods, and when you visit Prime, as I trust you will, give their well-regarded cullen skink a try. It’s a glorious dish, entirely free of scary bits, and you can make your own with this recipe.

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