Tullie Inn Re-launch

by Bex

A couple of Thursday's ago I was invited along to Balloch to check out the recently refurbished Tullie Inn.  It was great to get out again and catch up with some other foodie bloggers.  Nik was working late and Roz wasn't able to come so I invited a friend to join me.

I had never been to the Inn before so I don't know what it was like but have heard with was very dark with dark wood panelling.  It has also been extended and you can tell they've spent a lot of money on it.  It is now a pale blue colour and lovely and bright.  It has a sort of American pier restaurant style inside with maps on the walls and ceilings and booths in the main part of the restaurant area.

There were a few Scottish influences dotted around, tartan cushions, loch lomond on the ceiling and a stag on the wall by the corner table where we sat.

The menu is very varied with plenty of different options from sausage and mash to vegetable pad thai.  I love the sound of the wild boar pate starter (£5.50) and would also go back to try the chicken risotto with chorizo, cherry tomatoes and parmesan (£10.25).  They also do some very nice sounding breakfasts until noon and gourmet sandwiches (£5.50) and loaded potatoes (£6.00) for lunch.  I was impressed with the kids menu which had pretty healthy choices including a vegetable stir fry (all options £5, puddings £2).

There is also DJ entertainment on Fridays and Saturdays with cocktails for £5.50.  They also have rooms so it could be a lovely place to stay for a weekend by the loch.  There is free WiFi so we could tweet away about the yummy food too!

We were treated to, among others, Prosecco (£3.95), Kir Royales and Pimms, including the new Blackberry & Elderflower which was delicious!

We were initially concerned we might go very hungry as we received just one seafood platter between our table of 9 food bloggers but when we asked to try some more platters, they were brought right over and more food kept coming.

Seafood platter - smoked salmon, hot smoked mackerel, crayfish tails, mussels and capers - £14

Italian meat platters - 3 types of meat, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, rocket and stuffed peppadews - £13

Vegetarian platter - chargrilled vegetables, sun-dried tomatoes & mozzarella, stuffed peppadews, olives, hummus - £12

We ended up sampling the seafood, Italian meat and vegetarian platters and they were all lovely.  My favourite was the seafood, although I'm not keen on cold mussels, closely followed by the meat platter.  The only thing which would improve them is the bread, some nice flat bread (which we did receive on a separate platter) or nicer crusty bread would have been better than the slices of brown and white bread served with big lumps of butter on top.

Tomato and mozzarella skewers

I love tomato and mozzarella and the beef tomato salad version sounds lovely, served with fresh basil & pesto dressing (£4.95).  The cherry tomato skewers were nice once I dipped them in the olive oil and balsamic from the platters.

Chicken goujons (£5.50) and potato skins (£4.95)

The chicken goujons were delicious once I added some salt & pepper, although they were quite greasy with tempura style batter.  The potato skins were lovely (again, once seasoned) and much nicer than usual wedges.  Both of the above would probably have been much better if served with the sweet chilli dip and aioli they usually come with, according to the menu.

Chicken Teriyaki

The teriyaki chicken was delicious but very mild tasting.  Usually served with wilted pak choi and fresh coriander rice (£12.95).

Moroccan stew wraps

We all loved the Moroccan stew wraps, they were full of flavour and I would definitely order one of these for lunch!  On the menu though, it comes served as stew with herb couscous and warm flatbread (£11.95).  Definitely worth a try.

Mini Burgers

The mini burgers were very well seasoned and delicious, the full sized version with sour dough bun is £9.95 and comes with bacon and cheese, onion rings, chunky chips, burger sauce and house slaw.  We ordered some more drinks and saw the waitress using a tablet which she explained was hooked up to the wireless system so the order went straight through.

The next thing we tried was the pulled pork which was served on slices of grilled apple.  It was lovely, full of flavour and not too smokey which I find can often be the overwhelming flavour of pulled pork.  (£13.50 served with BBQ sauce, potato skins and grilled apple.)

Pulled pork

Then it was time for dessert!  This was definitely the highlight for me and I'm not usually that bothered about dessert.  We were treated to brownies, profiteroles and meringues.

Brownies (£4.95 served warm with ice cream), Meringues (£4.95) and Profiteroles (£4.95)

They were all fabulous and had the meringue been chewy it might have been my favourite but I loved the brownie, it had a sort of ganache-like layer on top and was so rich, chewy and delicious.  As the brownie was so rich, one was plenty, despite being my favourite.  I did snaffle some more of the little profiteroles though!  ;)

For people like me who find it difficult to choose, there's a sharing sweet plate for £12 with tasters of sticky toffee pudding, vanilla cheesecake and profiteroles with vanilla ice cream.

After seeing the fantastic coffee station, I ordered a latte (£2.25) which came with a home-baked biscuit.  Both were very tasty and the perfect way to finish off the evening.

Even though it's about 40 minutes from Glasgow, the Tullie Inn would be a lovely place to stop for lunch or dinner or even coffee if you're out for the day by Loch Lomond.  They seem to often have events on such as wine tasting, cocktail making classes and have a three course Italian dinner with matching wines on the 27th June.

We ate as guests of the Tullie Inn but as always, views are my own and honest.