New home sought for Fort Augustus restaurant

A MUCH-praised restaurant’s absence from the Highland food scene will be only temporary, promise the couple behind the award-winning Station Road.

The restaurant at the Lovat Hotel in Fort Augustus closed in March after five years of providing unique high quality meals in the Loch Ness area.

Despite receiving wide acclaim, including a 90 per cent five-star rating on TripAdvisor – the remaining 10 per cent all four star – Lovat Hotel owners Caroline Gregory and chef Sean Kelly took the reluctant decision to close the restaurant in its current location, leaving the Lovat’s Brasserie as the only hotel restaurant.

"It was tough on the staff to juggle two concepts from the same kitchen at the same time. At one point, one of them is going to suffer," Ms Gregory explained.

"To preserve everyone’s sanity, we thought it was the right thing to do to close one and just focus on the Brasserie. A few of the courses we were offering at Station Road have migrated through to the Brasserie, but we are not offering the five-course dining experience we were providing in the other restaurant."

However, this is not the end for Station Road.

The couple are now seeking another location for a new Station Road restaurant within an hour to 90 minutes from Inverness, although possibly not in the Highland capital itself.

"The location needs to be right, somewhere with a unique environment and accessible to the majority of the population," Ms Gregory said.

The couple see the new Station Road as having the potential to become a food tourism destination in the Highlands. Mr Kelly’s unique and inventive style of cooking, influenced by training in France and Italy, has already seen him attract more than 40,000 followers on Instagram.

"Sean is well known within the industry and he needs an outlet to flourish and not have any barriers," Ms Gregory said.

"At the moment, Sean is restrained. You need space to allow your imagination to thrive and try out new dishes. Because he has this following on Instagram, he always has to come up with new ideas. It will be interesting to see what happens when he has an environment that would allow him to do that."

In the meantime, the absence of Station Road has provided a bonus for hotel guests and other diners in the Lovat Brasserie.

Ms Gregory said: "If you look at TripAdvisor for the Brasserie, you will see some outstanding reviews on there too because we’ve been able to up our game. Just because Station Road is closed, it doesn’t mean we are always going to be doing simpler dishes."