UKC

Sure this must be a regular stopping-off watering hole for folk heading back to Aberdeen from the Braemar direction.

Just so everyone knows, it's damn-near impossible to get fed there on a Saturday night.

1st port of call - Chip shop. No more.
2nd port of call - "Restaurant with Bar/Lounge", across the road. Pints ordered. Doesnae sell food. Well not after about 2pm by the look of it. Still had the "soup of the day" up on the blackboard.
3rd port of call - Pub round the corner. Cannae mind the name of it either, it's the one with the pool table in the wee room. Signs on the window mention food. They do food usually, apparently, just not last Saturday night as there was a party on. :-O
4th port of call - Balmoral Bar. Sign up, saying Bar Meals served all day. But no food available, unless we were prepared to risk a couple of pies that had been sitting there for god knows how long. However, the barmaid did have the decency to recommend...
5th and final, increasingly desperate/frantic, port of call - Alexandra Hotel. Food was great, service impeccable.

So, just to save any other people from any unecessary excitement. Go to the Alexandra.

In reply to DougG:

The italian tucked away near the bridge is very good, as is the Auld Kirk, but it's a bit more posh and pricey though.

In reply to DougG:

Thanks for the tips, always good to know where to go for food, what ale did they have on at the Alexandra?

Which chippy did you try? theres on down the side street not far from the station

In reply to DougG:

....there is always the spar shop

In reply to Lancs Lad:

No chippy in Ballater!

Ales... nae idea, by this time my mind was of the one-track variety, and it was centred strongly on food.

Blueshound - We were after something a bit less swanky.

Jim - That was Port-of-call No.6

In reply to DougG:

....trouble with the spar shop is that its usually at such a desperate stage of hunger that I end up buying rather less than a "balanced meal". ie scotch egg, pork pie, bag of crisps and a pack of mr kipling cakes (probably something I would never consider eating like mini battenburg cakes). Wolfing these down is then followed by at least 48 hours of resurgent nausea.

<never learn though>

In reply to JimMcQ:

Pork pies.... oooh, I think one of our party might have had a job restraining herself.

In reply to DougG:


The Chinese in Ballater is good, got a takeaway fae there last autumn then sat on one of the benches on the green with the other half eatin our honey chilli chicken and noodles while watching all the tourists go past.

If its open the wee Deli does fantastic sandwiches

In reply to JimMcQ:


Anyway Jim, sounds like all the main foodgroups are represented in there

In reply to Bonesaw:

Re the chinese.

Last time I was there it was marred by the presence of a crazed Iraq veteran who kept referring to the other customers as 'civvy scum'.

He repeatedly informed us that he had killed iraquis and would kill us civvy scum too.

The whole thing kicked off just as my chow mein arrived and descended into a massive brawl in the street. I went to the car park outside the station to scoff my noodles, much safer there.

The chow mein was lovely.

In reply to the real dr gav:

I imagined Mr Iraq was stationed at Balmoral on Royal guard duty. God help them.

Is the Alexandra the big hotel next to the Bridge? I had an inedible stir fry there about a decade ago but I guess things may well have improved. They certainly couldn't have got worse.

In reply to the real dr gav:

What a fantastic story!

In reply to the real dr gav: Sounds like a good saturday nights entertainment in Ballater.

In reply to DougG: beer and crisps oh and peanuts. more of a drooth than hunger after being on the hill. the barmaid no give ye something to munch on.

there was a chippy come kebab shop come pizza place a couple of years ago.

In reply to Removed User:

Aye, Eric, the Alexandra's the one by the bridge. Couldn't fault them on Saturday night. (Mind you, I could have eaten a scabby dug by the time we got in there. But I think it was genuinely really good bar food. Esp. the sticky toffee pud.)

In reply to DougG: bloodyhell man im thinking of moving there and theres no pizza shop , and theres me worried about the climbing when this is clearly a greater problem

In reply to DougG:
A few weeks back, we thought we would grab a chipper in Ballater on the way home as time was getting on, and we were surprised to find it shut on a Saturday night. Nevermind, we thought, there's always the curry place in Aboyne - shut also! Don't know whether it was temporary or not, just kept driving.

In reply to Scomuir:

According to a boy in the first pub, the chipper in Ballater burned down!

In reply to DougG:

The chipper across fae the train station, ie down the wee lane?

In reply to blueshound:

Well that's the only one we knew about.

In reply to DougG:

Sheesh, well the next person who opens a chippy in Balater will be quids in!

In reply to blueshound:

...or maybe squids in...