American booty

When Jim and Anne Anderson swapped Philadelphia, USA, for the Scottish Highlands, they discovered a home from home - and brought a multi-cuisine...

When Jim and Anne Anderson swapped Philadelphia, USA, for the Scottish Highlands, they discovered a home from home - and brought a multi-cuisine slant to the local food offering. Susan Nowak reports

Tough to tell whether Jim Anderson is a poacher turned gamekeeper or vice versa. But he must be a tough guy. The internationally-known beer writer and critic quit urban Philadelphia in 2003 to bring his chef wife, Anne, and small son, Laing, to a pub in the Scottish Highlands, less than 100 miles south of John O'Groats.

He put his money where his pen was to become landlord of the Anderson, a Victorian gothic "folly" at Fortrose on the Black Isle - a piece of land between the Cromarty and Moray Firths - which now boasts "the biggest selection of Belgian beers in Scotland."

With more than 200 single malts, it is also a haven for whisky connoisseurs and gourmets: Anne Anderson combines the flair she honed in multi-cuisine New Orleans restaurants with the wide range of Scottish produce on offer.

With at least three cask ales, including local micros, Belgian beers on draught including Karmeliet Triple at 8%, regular and dark Budweiser Budvar, and a cellarful of unusual bottled beers, this is a real-ale oasis.

And it's all the more surprising because New-York born Anderson was a real-ale virgin until his 20s when he was working as a chef and his boss gave him his first taste of Duval.

But it wasn't his last. Seeking out speciality bars, he first discovered Belgian, then English beers. Finally, the "inspirational" beer writing of Michael Jackson encouraged him to become a writer himself.

After producing two sell-out editions of Philadelphia bar guides, Anderson launched, wrote and edited freebie Beer Philadelphia

for six years, hosted a beer-based radio show and presented a national food and drink TV programme.

But the birth of their son, now seven, brought a new focus for Anderson and his wife.

"Living in Philadelphia was wonderful, edgy and dangerous, but perhaps not the best place to bring up a child," he says.

After a globe-trotting search from New England to Belgium and finally the Scottish Highlands, the couple narrowed their possible choices of pub down to six. In what he regards as a moment of serendipity, Anderson spotted what he calls "this Fawlty Towers" on the way to another viewing.

The pub was not actually on the market, but a deal was done and the Andersons - with two business partners back in the States - found themselves owners of a two-bar, nine-bedroom inn. The pub boasts a grand, curving staircase and elegant, period dining room with floor-to-ceiling casements and the original embossed cream silk wallpaper. Installing en-suites was an early priority.

"It's a difficult business environment up here," says Anderson, who crosses his fingers at the end of every season that they have enough in the bank to make it through the winter. "But socially, it has everything we dreamed of - it's like being in America 60 years ago."

And in a "difficult environment", there's nothing like making things harder for yourself. For instance, any cask ale undrunk after four days is poured down the drain. And however quiet it is, Anne shops and changes the menu daily.

"OK, of course we don't have to do all this, but we do want to," he says. "The passion of cooking food, watching customers react to it and eat it and introducing new dishes and new beers to people - that's what keeps us going."

Anne Anderson's skill in bringing a new slant to traditional Scottish ingredients while spicing up the menu with more adventurous New Orleans flavours is a winning combo.

Her short "everyday menu" includes Brussels salad and North African white bean purée with home-made crisps, followed by classic Aberdeen sirloin steak or home-made beefburgers topped with bacon and a slice of haggis.

But she really goes to town with the daily specials - plentiful and all freshly-cooked. Sample starters might be West Coast oysters baked with coriander and chilli breadcrumbs, roast loin of rabbit with feta and chorizo on pumpkin, or a superb warm rustic pâté encroûte of lamb's liver and bacon beneath a perfectly-poached egg.

Mains range from wild Highland grouse in blueberry sauce to Jamaican flame-grilled marlin with curried bananas, Cajun blackened local Sika deer haunch and civet of venison with wild chanterelles in Black Isle Brewery's porter.

"British cooking and ingredients are a great untapped resource," says Anderson, who also prefers to accompany them with beer.

"I cooked at all sorts of restaurants in the States, but I love Scottish produce, especially the game. Here, I can cook wild game - back home you're only allowed to serve farmed."

After three years, the Andersons' efforts are starting to pay off. As their reputation grows, local organisations are booking winter functions and receipts have risen by a healthy 16% per annum, although costs such as LPG and electricity have doubled.

Food sales now make up about half their turnover, usually achieving a GP of about 65%, while wet trade and accommodation each account for a quarter.

Best of all, says Jim, they have broadened their hotel guests' spend: "As well as staying here, guests are now eating and drinking here. Food and beverage money is now within our four walls."

ON THE MENU

Locally-grown pumpkin

and chestnut soup (£3)

Caribbean coconut scampi (£5.50)

Scotch steak and porter pie with

monogrammed crust (£8.50)

Roast Barbary duck breast with

raspberry cassis sauce (£10)

Chicken breast filled with Fortrose

white pudding (£10.50)

All desserts (£4), including pineapple tartlet with green-tea ice cream

and white chocolate crème brûlée