THE mark of a great restaurant is not always just the food.
You could have a whole bundle of Michelin stars but a sullen word from a waiter could shatter the whole illusion.
The Carron Restaurant has both great food and top service in abundance.
It’s not just the clichéd “service with a smile”. The impressive menu is served up by people who are enthusiastic and care about what is brought to the table.
While the art-deco surroundings are stylish but unpretentious.
The chef takes great pride in his specials board, as the best fish dishes depend on what been caught fresh that morning.
As a result the best choices were not on the regular menu.
Our waitress knew the merits of each of the dishes and was only too happy to run us through the whole thing.
My girlfriend started with the pan-seared king scallops with wild mushroom risotto (£7.95)
It had actually been on the menu as a main course, but the waitress offered a half-size portion as a starter.
The scallops, which, like much of the fish on the menu were caught locally, were juicy and had a really strong flavour and the risotto was rich but not heavy.
I started with a hot smoked salmon hash with salad in filo pastry (£5.25), which was bursting with flavour.
For my main course I opted for a sea trout all the way from Shetland, which came with a tangy tomato and lime salsa on a crisp potato rosti (£13.95).
The fish was delicate but had a great subtle flavour.
My girlfriend’s choice was a delicious halibut and lobster layer with a citrus white wine sauce (£15.95). The chef had built a mini-tower of fish fillets and lobster tail. It was really light and tasted fresh from the sea. That would have been good enough, but the sauce tipped the balance from being a nice dish to an excellent one.
Wanting to prolong the meal as long as possible we went for dessert too.
The raspberry crème-brulee (£5.10) was packed full of fruit and there was a lovely satisfying crack as the thick layer of sugar on top was broken with a spoon.
It came with a crumbly home made shortbread, which avoided being sickly sweet.
The iced white chocolate parfait was soft and creamy and it came with a delicious almond tart.
The food may be fantastic and the setting just perfect – but its’ the staff that will see me heading back. I just hope they have the time for me to dither once more over the day’s specials.