The Station Hotel: High Street, Strichen

THE one thing I love about taking a drive out in the country is when I find a wee gem of a pub serving good food.

So when my pal Karen and I stopped off in Strichen – eight miles south west of Fraserburgh – we were stopped in our tracks by the impressive menu displayed outside the Station Hotel.

And that’s to say nothing about the lovely smell of cooking which wafted out to greet us, tantalising our taste buds.

Both up for a hearty feed, we followed our noses.

As a creature of habit, I knew I’d make short work of the chicken liver pate (£4.20) and scampi, chips and coleslaw (£5.50).

But what about Kaz? After perusing the varied menu which included homemade soup, paninis, baked tatties and an interesting combination of Chinese spring rolls with curry sauce – she decided she fancied the same as me.

The waitress mentioned the portions were quite big so after humming and hawing for a moment we opted to share a portion of tattie skins with garlic mayo (£4.20), just for good measure!

There is only one word to describe our food – delicious.

The liver pate was creamy and rich, while the scampi was tender and bursting with flavour.

A few glasses of vino at £2.50 each for Kaz and a cup of tea for me made this a memorable meal.