I’ve been following the Inver Restaurant for a while on social media and coupled with a visit to Strachur last year (where we nearly bought a house!), we decided it was time for a wee cheeky night away and some good tasty food, oh and to celebrate 20 years together (eek!).

Inver is a restaurant with rooms; 3 Bothies and 2 Shepherds Huts. All are kitted out in a scandi style making it a cosy retreat with great views over Loch Fyne.

We checked in around 4pm, where we were greeted with a friendly welcome and taken to our Shepherds Hut. A quick tour of where everything is, including the bottle of homemade liquor and we were left to relax until it was time for dinner.

Firstly, it’s silent. Secondly, the massive picture window makes it perfect for sitting back enjoying the view, reading and sipping on the tasty liqueur. A little radio is a lovely touch for some background music if you feel the need. The shepherds hut, whilst compact has everything you need for a relaxing and comfortable stay – though those over 6ft 3in may find the shower a tad on the short side!

Once suitably relaxed, it was time to get ourselves ready for dinner, we headed over a little earlier to the restaurant to enjoy a drink in the bar beforehand, it seems our dining companions had the same idea, the bar was busy but full of atmosphere and cosy for the cold night.

We enjoyed an Old Fashioned each, which was perfectly made and a great starter for the evening. Going all in we ordered a small carafe of house white to see us through our first course of the tasting menu – snacks. These were served in the bar area before we would be moved through to the dining room.

Our snack consisted of Oysters with Sea Buckthorn, Crab & Barley Bannock, Squid & Pine and Razor Clam with Rhubarb, all imaginative and beautifully presented, we were able to enjoy those and the wine before being shown to our table.

The premise of the food at Inver is seasonal and local, particularly fresh seafood with Loch Fyne on the doorstep!

Our next couple of courses featured a Garden Plate – a collection of locally grown artichoke served in different ways, followed by a Bread and Butter Broth. The Garden plate was a light fresh way to start the meal, I’m not an artichoke fan but found this really tasty. The Bread and Butter Broth, I didn’t know what to expect here, the leftover bread is used to make the broth, which gives an interesting but delicious rich flavour, so only a little is required.

I could have definitely gone for another round of the bread!

Next up was a tasty dish of Scallop, Langoustine with Broccoli and Blackcurrant Leaf, the Scallop and Langoustine melted in your mouth and the sauce was just divine! (wish I could remember what it was!).

Then we moved onto a Celeriac Brown Crab & Fermented White Asparagus. The celeriac was topped with brown crab, and the asparagus was on the side with some sweet green apple to balance the flavours, another really flavoursome dish.

Our final savoury dish was Newmiln Farm Pork & Celery, this was Pork serviced 4 ways; bacon, belly, sausage and loin.

All beautifully cooked and despite my hatred of celery, this paired really well with the pork.

There was an optional cheese course, which of course we took, a generous wedge of Lanark Blue with Red Chicory and Honey all washed down with a glass of ‘G’ Grenat 2018.

Before moving on to the dessert, we enjoyed a tasty palate cleanser, I wish I could remember what it was, other than delicous!

But it did set us up nicely for a dessert of Pear, Walnut & Ginger, some of my favourite things on a plate, it was just superb and a great way to end the meal

Once we had enjoyed all this wonderful food we moved back to the bar to enjoy some tea and petit four, of which there were fresh out of the oven Madeleines, even though I was stuffed there is still always space for freshly baked goods!

After a night cap or two (their cocktails are pretty awesome!) we left the cosy bar and wandered back to our Shepherds Hut and climbed into a very very comfortable bed.

We awoke the next morning to find our Breakfast Hamper sitting on our doorstep, the previous evening we completed a form to say what we would like from the menu and when we would like it served.

Having seen the pastries they were making on Instagram, those boxes were definitely getting ticked!

Arriving in a lovely picnic basket, everything was in bottles, jars or beautifully wrapped accompanied by cutlery and plates.

A selection of tea and coffee were available in the room – with real milk as well!

So, our breakfast feast came with Porridge Bread with Inver Butter and Rhubarb Jam, a Marmalade Danish with Cardamon Cream and Manouri, a Cheese and Butter Bun with Rainton Tomme, Thyme and Sumac, Inver Potted Pork Rillettes, Connage Highland Crowdie, Burnt Honey, Flax and Cardamon Granola and Inver Spiced Yogurt with Rhubarb Compote, washed down with Apple Juice for me and Orange Juice for him.

It was so much food, we did take the pastries with us to enjoy later!

After a leisurely breakfast, it was sadly time to leave.

We had a wonderful stay at Inver with good food both in the restaurant and for breakfast.

Because it’s reasonably remote it is so peaceful, feels like a world away and with the view of Loch Fyne on your doorstep (even if it’s grey and overcast!) it’s a perfect getaway for relaxing and downtime, an escape from everyday madness.

With so many great new places popping up, this is definitely one to watch and I really hope to be visiting again soon!