Gille Brighde Cafe & Restaurant

Gille Brighde sits at Lower Diabaig, the road-end township on the north side of Loch Torridon. The single-track road in from Torridon village runs a winding six miles along the loch’s north shore, climbs over the Bealach na Gaoithe, the “Pass of the Winds”, and drops down into the small bay at Lower Diabaig. The restaurant sits a few yards back from the slipway, with windows that look down across the loch toward the Beinn Damh massif on the south side and the Skye horizon further west.

The cooking pulls on the working west-coast supply lines. Diabaig itself is a small fishing village, and the boats out of the slipway land langoustine, brown crab and the occasional lobster; the rest of the supply comes up from Gairloch and the named-croft Highland meat suppliers around Wester Ross. The menu changes with what comes off the boats and out of the gardens, there isn’t a fixed printed card, and the day’s choices are read off the board.

The name is the Gaelic for oystercatcher (literally “servant of Brigid”), Gille Brighde, the black-and-white wading bird with the long red-orange bill that is a regular along the loch shore at Lower Diabaig.

The dining room is small (a dozen covers, perhaps fewer) and the location is the practical part of the listing, Diabaig is six miles of single-track road from Torridon village, which is itself another six miles from the A896 at Kinlochewe. Bookings only, advance reservation essential, no walk-ins.

Current opening, menus and contact at the Gille Brighde website.