Eating and drinking your way around Aberdeen

I sat on my 75-minute flight to Aberdeen Dyce airport surrounded by a lot of people in very expensive suits.

The city is home to the highest concentration of millionaires in the UK, with offshore oil deposits raking in a tidy sum for many Aberdonians each year, but I hadn’t expected to bump into quite so many of them before my feet had even touched Scottish soil.

During my weekend in Aberdeen I heard the words ‘because of the downturn’ more than once, yet I left the Granite City with a distinct impression of its seemingly apparent wealth. Expansive out-of-town estates, bustling designer shops and a lot of really tiny dogs all added to my conviction that even in the current climate, this was a place that doesn’t go without. 

My first afternoon was spent 20 miles outside of the city, where I enjoyed a luxurious champagne afternoon tea at the impressive Kincardine Castle. Expecting swarms of visitors and a bustling tearoom, I was shocked to be personally greeted by the Lord and Lady of the estate, who showed us around the rooms and grounds of their incredible family home as if it was the most natural thing in the world to have 17 bathrooms.

Despite being one of the country’s oldest and most historic areas, with more castles than any other county in the country, the centre of Aberdeen has a distinctly ‘shiny new’ look about it – undoubtedly down to the sparkling weatherproof granite that makes up 95% of its buildings.

A compact city that sharply gives way to rolling Scottish countryside at one end and the bracing spray of the North Sea at the other, central Aberdeen is a place that has something for everyone, but for the foodies among us it is a veritable Mecca.

There’s no denying the fact that I spent the majority of my weekend with a knife in one hand and a fork in the other – partly in celebration of FoodFest15, a year long showcase of all the fabulous food and drink north east Scotland has to offer, and partly because I’m just plain greedy.

Bringing together local food producers, restauranteurs, hoteliers and retailers, FoodFest15 highlights the wide variety of tasty treats available in Aberdeenshire through world class foodie events, distinguished fine dining and grassroots craft brewers – and I was lucky enough to sample all three during my flying visit.

Between the cosy atmosphere of church-turned-restaurant Musa, the mountains of fresh seafood at Bistro Verde and the generous portions at the Anglo-American Rye & Soda, I was seriously spoilt for choice in the dining department.

On my final day of back-to-back feasting, after having breakfast at a cute little cafe in Aberdeen’s stylish merchant’s quarter, suitably named Cup, I managed to mix things up a bit. Still food-related, naturally, but this time I decided to try my hand at cooking – then eating.

After whipping up three Thai fishcakes and a tasty side salad under the supervision of a hilarious chef from Nick Nairn’s Cook School, I had duly convinced myself that this fine dining business was a piece of cake. Which I then went off in search of. You really can’t get a feel for a place without sampling some of its local baking, if you ask me.

When I wasn’t eating in Aberdeen – which was hardly ever as you may have gathered – I was drinking. Not only does the city boast Six Degrees North, a local craft brewery with a bar offering hundreds of drinks from around the world, it‘s also home to one of the finest cocktail bars I have ever set foot in. And I like to think I know my cocktails.

Orchid is a seriously classy joint, and the key to their delicious drinks seemed to be a real passion for the art of cocktail-making. Head bartender Nick introduced me to an impressive device that allowed him to infuse any spirit with the flavour of something else – pine needles or ginger for example – and that inevitably got me thinking about cake again.

As I gathered up the many restaurant receipts scattered around the fabulous Skene House suite I’d called home for three days, I decided I was genuinely sorry to be leaving the splendid, sparkling city of Aberdeen. With a historic landmark, glitzy shopping street and cosy cafe around almost every corner, it’s an all-round people pleaser as far as city breaks go, and direct flights mean you can have breakfast in Bristol and be up North in time for lunch. Just try not to holiday in Aberdeen for too long – your arteries will thank you.

A return flight to Aberdeen from Bristol Airport on BMI Regional costs from £98 (www.bmiregional.com). Meena stayed at Skene House Rosemount, which has one bedroom suits from £85 a night (www.skene-house.co.uk/rosemount_suites).

For more information on FoodFest15 visit their website or follow them on Twitter @foodfest15.

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