Photos: Long established Inverness cafê the Castle Restaurant re-opens with a new look – but crinkle chips are off the menu!
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
One of Inverness's oldest established restaurants has returned from lockdown with a new look and a new menu.
The enforced closure of a restaurant which has been feeding locals and visitors since the 1950s proved a mixed blessing for owner Jane Macphee, who took over the Castle Street eatery last year.
In addition to freshening up the menu, the restaurant has undergone a rebranding which brings the Castle in line with Mrs Macphee's Jammy Piece café at Muirtown and its subsidiaries in the Eastgate Shopping Centre and at Tomatin. The kitchen has also been improved to allow it to operate more efficiently and new seating has been installed.
However, Mrs Macphee said that there had been no possibility of returning to the original booth seating which had been re-moved by a previous operator.
"It would be disrespectful to the original owners to replicate what they did, but lockdown has given us an opportunity to give the place a bit of a facelift," she said.
However, she acknowledged that not all the changes had been welcomed, with some social media critics hitting out at the absence of some Castle Restaurant favourites from its new offering, in particular the restaurant's signature crinkle cut chips.
"There have been a number of people who have been negative, but they have been negative without trying it first," she said.
Other customers, and potential customers writing online, have been much more positive, welcoming new additions to the menu, one couple even saying that it was better than ever.
It also won praise from Iain Bayne, best known as the drummer with Celtic rock band Runrig, for whom a visit to the Castle Restaurant was a must every time they played in Inverness.
Mr Bayne, who was among the guests who enjoyed an early preview of the restaurant before its public opening, commented: "Now like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, and during a pandemic, Inverness has a superb restaurant to be proud of.
"The food, the presentation, the service were all excellent. It was relaxed with a lot of warmth. I dare anyone to eat there and not be delighted."
After coming back from the threat of permanent closure, Mrs Macphee is optimistic about the future of the Castle Restaurant, especially with the redevelopment of Inverness Castle as a tourist attraction and new developments elsewhere on Castle Street.
"Castle Street is coming back to life," she said.
