Monday, June 21, 2010

Barra: Cafe Kisimul



Not just the inner Hebrides. I'm talking the OUTER Hebrides. 70 miles out to sea off the coast of Scotland, middle of nowhere. Now tell me, there is no way, absolutely no way, you would expect to find yourself a vegan meal?

BUT I DID!

I couldn't believe it either, and it is now that I introduce to you, dun dun duuuuuuun, Cafe Kisimul, named after Kisimul Castle which is visible from the outside tables.

Just pootling around Barra one hot and sunny day, heading to the local shop to see if I could rustle up a hum drum meal out of a few staple foodstuffs when out of the corner of a very keen eye, the magic word was spotted. 

Cafe Kisimul is a fairly usual touristy cafe, specialising in seafood and Indian cooking due to it's Indian owner, and that is where the veganism comes in. In the form of curry. What better form could it have been I ask you? I opted for the channa dhal with pilau rice and I have to admit, it was one of the best curries I have ever tasted, and I eat a fair amount of curry.

This little, obscure cafe, has rave reviews locally I hear. They've even been in the paper, but little is made of the vegan options available. They were clearly marked on a menu when I walked through the door, but the girl behind the counter didn't seem too clued up, I have to admit. It was only when the owner came out, that he provided me with reassurance that he knew what a vegan was. The vegan options were channa dhal, red lentil dhal, spinach and chickpea curry, a vegetable jaipuri and tomato and chickpea soup. Seriously, I wish I could have tried all of them, but the portion size was very generous and reasonably priced at about £8 for the curry with a choice of rice or naan. I even had my leftovers to take home and repeat the delicious experience at dinnertime :)

I have a website link for you, but, surprisingly, there is no mention at all of vegan options on here..... you'll just have to trust me, and take a really long journey if you want to find out for yourself.
 

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for this! I typed Vegan and Hebrides into google today and this came up tops. Agreed, very unexpected,, but I am going up there soon so at least I know there is somewhere I can eat lol

    ellie

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  2. This makes me very happy! Glad to be of assistance.... just hope they still have the vegan stuff on their menu - let me know how it goes if you do make a visit. And enjoy the Hebrides :)

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