Mr Pook's Kitchen, Castle Douglas, Dumfries & Galloway: 'Happiness is times like these' - restaurant review
We went to Mr Pook's Kitchen in Castle Douglas while on holiday in South West Scotland, an often unknown part of the UK even to the most avid traveller, who will shrug their shoulders at the names Gatehouse of Fleet, Borgue and Dundrennan before having a huge dog dinner saying Kirkudbright (it's Ki-koo-bree, by the way).
I only know this because I spent so much time here as a child, leaving pieces of my heart on the beaches near what is glamorously called Euroroute E18 or, more precisely, the A75 portion of this Euroroute which connects Stranraer to Gretna. South West Scotland's beaches aren't like Santa Monica's: they're steep, windswept and sometimes an unpretty taupe color, but I've had a craving for them over the years , and for the misty views over the Solway Firth and the days I drank Barr's cola on a deck chair next to my mother's sky-blue Austin Princess, reading an annual Oor Wullie, with trips to coffeehouses in rudimentary beach stalls that sold Scottish pies in paper bags and ice cream buns, which were a hot dog roll with a sweet pink top sprinkled with hundreds and thousands. Some days we rarely saw another soul. It felt like the southwest, not far from our home in Carlisle, was our secret; meanwhile, the rest of the vacationers had gone north, demanding the full tourist experience of tartan and the Trossachs. -spacefinder-type="model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.ImageBlockElement" class="dcr-173mewl">
The southwest is largely unchanged, if not preserved, There are great cafes serving cakes and wonderful farm shops, but I smiled at an American tourist ordering a Shirley Temple in a pub, baffled that the bar didn't have maraschino cherries , grenadine or fresh lime juice."I can make you a little can of ginger ale," the bartender said, biting his lip.Which brings us to Mr Pook's, who has been living in an old rather grand bank building. Turns out Mr. Pook is a real person: you'll see him in the open kitchen as soon as you walk through the door. The welcome from him and the staff is warm. Nick Drake's Pink Moon was floating in the ether and there was Irn-Bru on the menu. Happiness is not a destination; it's little moments like these.
Mr Pook's is classy, hearty, and perhaps a bit more expensive than anywhere else in these parts - and with good reason, because that...
We went to Mr Pook's Kitchen in Castle Douglas while on holiday in South West Scotland, an often unknown part of the UK even to the most avid traveller, who will shrug their shoulders at the names Gatehouse of Fleet, Borgue and Dundrennan before having a huge dog dinner saying Kirkudbright (it's Ki-koo-bree, by the way).
I only know this because I spent so much time here as a child, leaving pieces of my heart on the beaches near what is glamorously called Euroroute E18 or, more precisely, the A75 portion of this Euroroute which connects Stranraer to Gretna. South West Scotland's beaches aren't like Santa Monica's: they're steep, windswept and sometimes an unpretty taupe color, but I've had a craving for them over the years , and for the misty views over the Solway Firth and the days I drank Barr's cola on a deck chair next to my mother's sky-blue Austin Princess, reading an annual Oor Wullie, with trips to coffeehouses in rudimentary beach stalls that sold Scottish pies in paper bags and ice cream buns, which were a hot dog roll with a sweet pink top sprinkled with hundreds and thousands. Some days we rarely saw another soul. It felt like the southwest, not far from our home in Carlisle, was our secret; meanwhile, the rest of the vacationers had gone north, demanding the full tourist experience of tartan and the Trossachs. -spacefinder-type="model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.ImageBlockElement" class="dcr-173mewl">
The southwest is largely unchanged, if not preserved, There are great cafes serving cakes and wonderful farm shops, but I smiled at an American tourist ordering a Shirley Temple in a pub, baffled that the bar didn't have maraschino cherries , grenadine or fresh lime juice."I can make you a little can of ginger ale," the bartender said, biting his lip.Which brings us to Mr Pook's, who has been living in an old rather grand bank building. Turns out Mr. Pook is a real person: you'll see him in the open kitchen as soon as you walk through the door. The welcome from him and the staff is warm. Nick Drake's Pink Moon was floating in the ether and there was Irn-Bru on the menu. Happiness is not a destination; it's little moments like these.
Mr Pook's is classy, hearty, and perhaps a bit more expensive than anywhere else in these parts - and with good reason, because that...
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