Sign in with Facebook
Hearty, local food on the world's shortest street
One day we decided it was time to head into the great unknown, so we hopped into the car together with my mum and her husband and headed north - towards John O'Groats.
The small (and rather isolated!) town of Wick seemed like a good place to stop for lunch and we stumbled across the No. 1 Bistro at Mackay's Hotel because it's an easy-to-spot building as you enter Wick and are about to drive over the bridge over Wick River.
Wick is the principal town in the far north of the Scottish mainland. It was originally a Viking settlement, and in the 1800's Wick was the herring centre of the world. Trade in Wick peaked around 1900 when some 1,120 vessels were based here & home to 10,000 fishermen, and over two particularly busy days landed fifty million fish! Business today is somewhat less hectic than those early days. Most of the town's fish is now landed through Scrabster (slightly north of Wick).
Mackays Hotel was built in 1883, and the hotel has gained wide recognition for its high standard of award winning service and fine, local food.
This tiny bistro only has about 10 tables and is very popular, so we were very lucky that a table was free as the gusty northern wind literally blew us in through the front door! So, what do you eat when in Wick? Fish of course!
All of us ordered Fish 'n' Chips, Scrabster Haddock with peas and hand cut, thick chips & tartar sauce (£7.65)... this was my mum's first trip to Scotland, and now her first time trying Fish 'n' Chips... I hoped the No. 1 Bistro's version of the classic dish would be a winner, and so it was :-)
Service was extremely friendly & hospitable and we'd gladly return for seconds the next time the wind blows us towards the North of Scotland!
Opening Hours:
7 days a week from 10:30am-09:00pm (last orders).
--> Ebenezer Place has been officially recognised by Guinness World Records as the Shortest Street in the World (since Nov. 2006).
The bistro is the only address on Ebenezer Place but at 6ft 9 inches there is no room for another!
