Toravaig House - 4 Star Hotel and Restaurant

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Toravaig has just picked another fantastic award for it’s superb dining experience. The hotel and restaurant was selected by the judges of Highland Tourism Awards as the winner of The Highland Dining Out Experience. This coveted award was presented to Anne & Ken at a glittering ceremony in Inverness on 20th November.

Press & Journal which was published on 24 October 2009

Toravaig House Hotel wins the coveted Taste of Highlands and Islands Restaurant of the Year Award at the 2009.

Partners’ hard work pays off
Skye establishment transformed into gourmet haven

By Susan Welsh

TORAVAIG House Hotel, at Sleat, on Skye, has been crowned the Press and Journal Taste of Highlands and Islands Restaurant of the Year 2009.

The award is all the more remarkable because just six years ago, when owners Anne Gracie and her partner, Captain Ken Gunn, bought the building, it was run down and needed complete renovation.

Ms Gracie is from Skye and no stranger to the hospitality business having spent many years running a busy guesthouse and self-catering business in the north of the island.

Captain Gunn has had a career at sea, the past six years as skipper of a small luxury cruise ship which sails mainly off the coast of Britain, Norway and Ireland.

Their hard work in transforming it into an award-winning hotel has paid off handsomely, while the dishes created by head chef Andrew Lipp, who uses as much local produce as possible, have helped to turn it into a haven for fans of fine cuisine.

The judges, who visited the restaurant anonymously, were impressed by the innovative ways in which local and home-grown seasonal produce was used and were wowed by dishes that impressed from the first mouthful to the last.

The judges said: “There was nothing on any plate that wasn’t perfectly cooked, presented and flavoured.

“The basis of the menu was fairly traditional dishes, but we were won over by the innovative ways in which these were made over, and the sheer quality of what was served.

“Their unique ideas worked extremely well by not being too complicated; every bite of food just spoke for itself. Delicious and beautifully-presented mains were followed by what has to be some of the best desserts . . . true artworks and perfect texture combinations that tasted even better than they looked.”

They added that service was sincere and the overall view was that staff had put themselves in the customers position and carefully thought through the whole experience on offer.