Kellockbank, near Insch, Aberdeenshire

I have now been to Kellockbank of a couple of occasions and have always enjoyed the shop, the garden centre and the coffee shop.  This place has lots on offer.

The food part of our trip, as always, was my favourite.  The menu is varied and has lots of delicious sounding combinations on offer.  There is always a menu of the day as well as the standard all-the-time menu.

The coffee shop is self service, with drinks and cakes being taken from the counter and if you order any 'real' food, it is taken to you at your table.  I like this setup as I imagine it must mean that there is a fair amount of fresh food being prepared in the kitchen, leading to less waste.

There were three different soups on offer, a couple of quiches, a few main courses and two puddings on the specials board on the day of our visit.  I opted for a soup to start, and intended to follow it up with strawberries and ice-cream, however the soup was finished!  I then opted for a steak panini - I am an avid meat eater.  If I had spotted it first, I probably wouldn't have even considered the soup!  Unfortunately, again, no steak, so no steak panini!

I felt the pressure to order quickly as the queue mounted behind me.  I ended up settling for macaroni cheese with chips and peas.  I instantly regretted my decision but felt it was too late to change it.

Alan, as usual, opted for a three course monster meal!  He had soup, fish and chips and then sticky toffee pudding.  All of which were of massive quantity.  It's not cheap there, however, they certainly don't scrimp on the portion sizes.  For all of the above, two drinks and a coffee we were roughly £37.


As it was a nice day, we asked if we might sit outside if there were tables.  The double doors were opened into the garden centre area and I had assumed that there may have been some tables to eat at outside.  The young lady at the counter said that there was only one table and pointed in the direction of it.  I found the table, however, it was for sale!  (£395 if you're interested!) I double checked with her and she assured me that it was fine to sit there.  It seemed a shame for there not be be a couple of outdoor tables, given that there seemed to be enough space for some.

My macaroni came along with Alan's soup and both were nice, not fantastic, nothing to rave about, but just good old boring nice.  My macaroni came with tinned peas - something which I really don't like to pay for.  If I had known they were going to be tinned I would have foregone them.  I can't explain my dislike for tinned veg.  The macaroni itself came in a wee dish of its own on the plate with the chips.  It was piping hot and had good flavour, but the pasta seemed to be a bit overcooked, falling to bits as I tried to get it on my fork.  The chips were nice.  I ate carefully so as not to spill on the table - I didn't want to be responsible for Kellockbank losing a sale due to cheese related damages.  Alan's fish was ginormous and looked perfectly crispy.  He must  have liked it as he finished before me, despite having the soup too.

I can't remember seeing his sticky toffee pudding, although it did arrive.  I had surely been too busy soaking up the sun (read: worrying about sunburn).

I will still come back here despite it not being quite as successful as the last few visits.  I made a poor choice in food when there were clearly so many other things I would have preferred.  Never mind...