Last Friday we (Anneke, 8 friends and me) went out for dinner. We do that every now and then and while we usually do dinner at one of our places we decided to go out this time. We had been talking about going to Hielander for about three years, but for some reason never got around to it. Now was the time, finally.

The restaurant itself is a sight to behold. Traditionally pub-like decoration and several hundred whiskies line the walls. Guns and swords decorate tables and ceiling.

As usual with our wee bunch of lads and lasses we were late. And being a ‘guided’ dinner everyone else in the restaurant was waiting for us (sorry, everyone). We started at about 7 o’clock with the first whisky and the first course. Haggis with Wemyss’ Spice King. Most of us never had Haggis before so that was interesting! The Haggis was pretty spicy and the Spice King whisky fitted wonderfully well with it. On the palate it didn’t do much but the nose and finish were prolonging the magic.

The second course was a creamed truffle soup with a glass of Benromach to go with it. The Benromach was bottled for the Craighellachie Hotel, but I don’t remember what the brand was. The soup was terrific and full of earthy flavours. The whisky was rather smooth, but combined nicely to give the it that extra boost. After that it was time for Wullie‘s famous smoked salmon. He poured a rather terrific Bowmore 11 by Hart Brothers with it. A smoky whisky with smoked salmon is an easy pick, but the whisky was terrific although I mostly forgot about it while eating the salmon. That good.

The main course was duck breast with a sweet sauce, sauerkraut and mashed potatoes. To my surprise he poured a single cask Connemara Irish Whiskey with it. I cheated a little and started with the whisky before the duck was served and got nice wood and pineapple flavours. Very fruity. The duck was cooked to perfection too.

Dessert was my least favourite course, a Scottish trifle. I’m not too big a fan of those and was silently hoping he made Cranachan. The whisky (Auchentoshan 12) was rather nice but was overpowered by the dessert’s sweetness.

After that coffee and a Glenlivet 13, bottled by Adelphi for the Ben Nevis club. A damn fine whisky with heaps of flavour. I might be wanting this one for my collection! Of course we talked a lot about Wullie’s festival next week, whisky in general and had wee tastes of some other Ben Nevis Club bottlings (Laphroaig, Springbank, Mortlach). I really wished we had more time because I wanted a glass of that Springbank, but our train was leaving and since there was snow a week before, Dutch public transport was still in panic mode.

Five star dinner for sure! Maybe not the finesse of French haute cuisine, but this is more my style of great dinner. With good drinks, good food, good friends. Highly recommended.

I’ll post some pictures if I can get any from my friends.