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This year the 7th June was National Fish & Chip Day, a celebration of the nations favourite dish and all things fish & chips. We had lots going on at the café, much to delight of our customers, because we love to get involved as proud members of the Fish & Chip industry and the National Federation of Fish Fryers. We featured a Fish Feast special with MSC sustainable and fully traceable Battered Haddock, Breaded Lemon Sole and a Hake fishcake, all served with our homemade tartare sauce and mushy peas. We also sold Loch Crenan Oysters supplied by The Caledonian Oyster Company based in Oban which were served deep fried in a Tabasco batter or au natural with Tabasco and pepper in sets of 3 or 6. These proved very popular as can be seen in the photos below. The famous hot sauce, (Tabasco) donated lots of prizes and so we were able to hold a lucky dip for customers buying the Fish Feast to win tee shirts, beach towels and of course bottles of the famous sauce itself! Our oysters were opened and served by a professional oysterman which lent great theatre to the occasion and was much photographed and enjoyed by everyone, the first 100 of whom got a free taster oyster served with our compliments. For those stopping for a cuppa and a piece of cake, we made beautiful special Limited Edition cupcakes with £1 from the sale of each going to our nominated charity, @toilettwinning to help our quest to build 100 loos in Malawi this year. Then to close off our activity organised around National Fish & Chip Day, Colin and I were delighted and privileged to be asked to return to Oban High School once again. We spoke to 3 classes about careers in Hospitality and in particular what the benefits are to choosing the The Fish and Chip industry to work in. We Love #Nationalfishandchipday #TasteourBest
 Since our last update in early April we have raised a further £720 which has paid for another 12 toilets in Malawi bringing our total up from 51 to 63 loos in our quest to get to 100 by the end of the year. The lovely chocolate hamper made by @Obanchocolatecompany was not claimed after the raffle despite our efforts to get hold of the ticket holder although happily the fruit, champagne and chocolate basket donated by @JMBreckenridge was. You’ll be pleased to hear that there is happy ending for the chocolate hamper as last week we donated it to a local fund raising effort in Killin to support a young man and his family who are dealing with his cancer treatment which takes place many miles from home in this region. As you will appreciate the logistics alone add extra pressures and complexities at an already difficult time for a young family, so we were happy to help. Meanwhile, our quest to reach 100 toilets continues! Next, we will be selling this beautiful hand made light oak lighthouse which was donated by one of our regulars, Tony from Essex (yes, he visits 5-6 times a year for fish and chips!) who made this and gave it to us to raise funds for @toilettwinning. We have it on display in the café and are asking for a donation of £30 or over for it to go to toilet twinning…. Each loo costs £60 so £30 gets us half way to another…. We are fortunate to have lots of other items which have been donated and we will be selling these or using them for prizes throughout the rest of the year. We also have a Justgiving page if you wish to make a donation to help us on our way at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/therealfoodcafetyndrum What an amazing weekend takes place at the end of April every year when the Fling comes to town! Tyndrum is lucky enough to be the host destination as its the location of the finish line with its famous red carpet runway! 1000 hardy competitors run from Milngavie (6 miles north of Glasgow) to Tyndrum along the #WestHighlandWay This is no ordinary race, its 53 miles of tough, rugged terrain and sometimes in conditions which can be pretty hostile! This is hardcore, world class ultra marathon running expertly organised by @JohnDuncan and his army of helpers @Flingrace At the café, we are proud to provide food and refreshment at the finishing line for the runners with help from our friends at Albert Bartlett, Innis & Gunn, Mackie’s of Scotland Ice Cream and Macsween's Haggis and JM Breckenridge. @LochLomondandtheTrossachsNationalPark @VisitScotland #ScotlandisNow #TasteourBest
Over the past few years we’ve been really focused on making alterations to our premises and services to ensure we’re providing the most inclusive and welcoming stop-off point for everyone. This year we’ve reach a new milestone with our first ever listing in Euan’s Guide, the travel guide for people with access requirements and we also submitted a blog post to the website, outlining our ambition to make award-winning fish and chips accessible to everyone. Click here to read the article about us on Euan's guide website. Today our facilities for those with access requirements include:
In addition to the physical alterations, taking our team on our accessibility journey has been crucial. We have put each team member through VisitScotland Accessible Tourism Training, which has helped our staff to become much more confident in communicating with and assisting disabled customers. The next step will be training several of our team in basic sign language with BSL courses and this should be achieved by the end of summer 2019, so our staff will be able to communicate with deaf customers more effectively. We don’t have a Changing Places toilet in Tyndrum yet but we are working to acquire some land and funding to build one. The nearest Changing Places loos at the moment are at Fort William, Crieff and Glasgow. Happily, the café today is immensely popular and can get really busy. During high season and at the weekends we tend to operate a no bookings rule but we understand this can be tricky for disabled customers. Therefore, for anyone with access requirements who would like to stop by, we make an exception to the rule and bookings can be made by emailing info@therealfoodcafe.com or sending a private Facebook message or by phoning 01838 400235 – whatever works best for you. We look forward to seeing you at the café soon and please feel free to offer us feedback on our facilities and service for disabled customers by writing a review on our Euan’s Guide listing. It’s our vision at The Real Food Café to make Tyndrum the most accessible destination in Scotland and we’re continually improving our offer to achieve that goal.
We have launched a very special new Taste of Scotland menu celebrating Scotland’s most infamous food and drink items!
Officially launching on 25th January to celebrate Burns Night, the menu features haddock and chips with homemade tartare sauce and mushy peas, alongside bite-sized Macsween’s Haggis and Charles Macleod of Stornoway black pudding. If that wasn’t indulgent enough, the meal is rounded off with a delicious Scottish dessert of Mackie’s Traditional ice cream, a chunk of deep-fried Mars Bar and toffee sauce. To accompany the food, choose from either Irn Bru, Scottish craft beer Innis & Gunn Original or Lager, or go all out and enjoy a dram of Oban 14-Year-Old Malt Whisky and a piece of Scottish tablet. The menu has been designed as a tongue-in-cheek take on Scotland’s national cuisine for visitors to the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park. It is available for parties of two or more and should be booked a day in advance. Next time you’re stopping by The Real Food Café, make sure to check out our Taste of Scotland menu and tell us what you think! |
