Who travels all the way to Glen Coe, Scotland and has nachos? Me! That's who!!
Remember that I'm not doing this for myself, dear readers. I am, instead, on a quest to find some of the very best Nachos that the United Kingdom has to offer and, in this endeavo(u)r, I can leave no stone unturned. Not even one of the frost covered and weathered stones of far off Glen Coe, Scotland!
I've got to say that the scenery was pretty spectacular. The weather wasn't particularly cooperating, but it made things all the more atmospheric.
The sight of the Three Sisters bathed in a late summer mist was enough to make me start hating Campells as much as the next grizzled Glen Coe-ian.
Once sightseeing was out of the way, it was time for the piece of resistance - that's right, nacho time.
The Highland Inn chosen for the nacho repast was The Clachaig Inn, right in the heart of....um...actually, it wasn't near ANYTHING. Glen Coe is referred to as a village, and this place was a good few miles from there. To get to the Inn, I had to drive down one of those crazy country roads, brights at full blaze and ready to break at the sight of any deer or leprechaun that leaped into my path.
Finally, after a good few miles, I found the Inn. The Inn is what is known in these here parts as a real "walkers" inn. That is, most people would get there under their own power, and not belching smoke out of a '99 Ford Fiesta. The whole atmosphere was something like you'd find up in a mountain village somewhere in Colorado. Hard to believe that I was only a few short hours away from Fundee.
But we're not here to talk about walking, or healthy Alpine atmospheres, are we? You want to hear about nachos and that's what this here blog is all about.
Glen Coe Nachos - The Good
I believe if you take a look at the article header, you'll see one of the first nacho lessons I've quickly learned here in the UK - GET EVERYTHING ON THE SIDE. In the first place, if the salsa sucks and it's all over everything, then you've just ruined a big plate of nachos. Secondly, the "soured cream" used here can vary widely from location to location. If you've got yourself a bunch of runny sour cream seeping over your nachos, that'll just lead to heartbreak. Combine that with a bad serving of salsa, and you've got a nacho disaster on your hands.
The nachos arrived shortly after ordering and I was pleasantly surprised. The chips were tasty and the cheese was thinly applied to melt evenly across the chips. The cook had even taken the time to layer the cheese beneath the initial layer of tortilla chips, an attention to detail that wasn't lost on yours truly (we'll be addressing the "nacho layering" theory, including the controversial "refried beans as glue" theorem, in an upcoming post).
Glen Coe Nachos - The Bad
There was, unfortunately, only one drawback to the nachos, but it was in such a critical area that it ruined an otherwise decent plate of nachos. The problem? The salsa.
It's not that it wasn't fresh, or looked great (see picture). It just wasn't.....salsa-y enough. I don't understand why they can't seem to get this right here. The main problem is that the salsa is usually too tomato-y tasting. This was indeed the problem with Glen Coe nachos, but, in addition to being too tomato-y, this salsa was too cinnamon-y. I understand the principle of putting cinnamon into salsa, and even chili, but this just didn't cut it.
The sad part is that Doritos CAN. Yes, I have on numerous occasions purchased Doritos hot sauce from the grocery store and not only have I found it more palatable than Glen Coe Nacho Salsa, but actually not bad at all.
Overall, however, I enjoyed Glen Coe Nachos. I'll just need to start carrying my own salsa with me.