Archive for June, 2010

I have wandered all over Scotland in pursuit of the wonderful delights of great food, passionately prepared from local produce and the East Neuk of Fife sure takes a lot of beating. Without doubt there are plenty of other destinations to get a foodie’s taste buds racing but few country corners of Scotland can offer such a wide range of great destinations using fresh local produce within almost walking distance of each other.

On my last trip I based myself in the picturesque seaside village of Elie, about 15 miles cross country from St Andrews and an hour at most from the capital Edinburgh’s international airport. Elie scores high on any food lover’s list – good local deli in the centre of the village stocking plenty of specialist produce from the local  farmers and fishermen, a traditional baker with fresh morning rolls, a paper shop, a couple of good local pubs (one of which is the Ship Inn – regularly voted as one of the best pubs with a seaside view in Britain), four award winning blue flag beaches with miles and miles of golden stand to walk up an appetite, and Sangster’s – Elie’s first and only Michelin starred restaurant.

Elie also scores high because it’s no more than 15 minutes from any of the other great restaurants in the East Neuk.  You can walk the 3 miles along the Fife Coastal path to the fantastic Seafood Restaurant in St Monan’s. The Peat in Cellardyke is a short 15 minute drive, as is The Cabin in Anstruther.

The Seafood Restaurant on the harbour front in St Monan’s has to be one of my (and Nick Nairn’s!) all-time favourite places to eat for lunch or dinner. Overlooking the water it serves local oysters, monkfish and halibut, with a cracking accompanying wine list. A summertime glass of Chablis on the sunny patio under the cliffs is a blissful way watch the afternoon slip by.

The Peat Inn is probably the East Neuk’s most established and well know eatery. Originally an old, whitewashed pub with smoking fires and low ceilings it has grown to become an iconic restaurant. Started by David Wilson, often known as the godfather of Scottish cooking, it’s now run by Geoffrey Smeddle. Head there alone for the seriously good Fife-grown lamb and beef.

In Elie itself, the Ship Inn is regularly voted one of Britain and Ireland’s best seaside pubs. A good pint in the sun overlooking the sea is the essence of summer. Throw in some fine pub grub also including steak and Guinness pie or avocado and crayfish sandwiches and you are off to a winner. There are Sunday barbecues and cricket matches on the beach. Heston Blumenthal went to sample the perfect seafood pie for his “In Search of Perfection” BBC series.

If you are going fife self catering then it’s got to be local fish for the dinner. The market at Pittenween is worth a peek, but for buying fish you won’t beat G&J Wilson, in St Monan’s- it sells straight from its packing shed. There’s also a delightful little smokery round the back doing hot-smoked salmon and haddock. If you are lucky you can buy lobster straight off the pier in Elie at £5 a pound. Bargain!

10 minutes further down the road is Anstruther, home to the infamous Anstruther Fish Bar – the finest fish and chips in the UK (that’s official). It’s on Shore Street down over looking the harbour and won UK Seafish fish and chip shop of the year 2008 and 2009. Grab a supper and eat it in the car straight out the paper watching the boats unload the catch.