One of Scotland’s most celebrated destination restaurants will serve its final meals at the end of this month after a decade on the Isle of Skye.
Loch Bay, the Michelin-starred seafood restaurant in the tiny fishing village of Stein, will close permanently following its final service on Saturday 31 October.
Chef Michael Smith and his wife Laurence opened the distinctive restaurant in 2016, transforming a former crofter’s cottage on the Waternish Peninsula into one of Scotland’s most acclaimed places to eat.
Loch Bay earned its first Michelin star in 2017, just 18 months after opening, and has retained the accolade ever since. It is currently the only restaurant on Skye with a Michelin star.
Michael has now made clear that the decision to close has not been driven by financial difficulties or a lack of customers.
“This is not a distress closure,” he told food writer Cate Devine. “Loch Bay has operated at the highest level and we’re fully booked until the end of the season. We’ve been functioning really well with the same core staff I’ve had since the beginning. The international travel market on Skye is very, very buoyant and it always will be. Demand at Loch Bay is consistent and we have a full restaurant every night.
“I’ve been solo on the stove for 11 years, on my feet, creating and plating 80 dishes every day of service. We’d always known that if we were fortunate enough to get 10 years, we’d take stock about where we’d like to be. I’m 56 next birthday and I could happily have seen myself staying at the stove at 65, but an opportunity has come up to do something I’ve never done before.
“Laurence and I thought long and hard about how to make both work and we came to the conclusion that the best thing to do would be to close Loch Bay at the end of the season.
“I’m still working through it; it’s an emotional time.”
Loch Bay has been fully booked throughout what Michael described as its strongest season, with diners continuing to travel to Stein from Scotland and around the world.
Michael, who turns 56 next year, has revealed that an opportunity has emerged to do something he has never done before, with further details expected to be announced later this month.
Michael was already one of Skye’s best-known chefs before opening Loch Bay. He joined The Three Chimneys in 2004 and later became its head chef, helping the famous restaurant achieve a Michelin star in 2014 before leaving to establish his own restaurant two years later.
Loch Bay developed a distinctive style centred on seafood from the waters surrounding Skye, combining Scottish ingredients with classical French techniques.
Its six-course Skye fruits de mer menu has showcased produce including scallops, lobster, mussels and langoustines, with some shellfish landed at the jetty opposite the restaurant.
The Michelin Guide has praised Loch Bay’s intensely flavoured cooking and its signature langoustine pot-au-feu, describing the food as having French influences but a Scottish heart.
Michael and Laurence originally announced the closure in August. The couple thanked their staff, suppliers and the Skye community for helping the restaurant maintain its standards throughout the past decade.
They said the final service had deliberately been timed to coincide with the conclusion of another successful season and that they wanted to finish the restaurant’s story positively.
Stein will remain home for Michael and Laurence after the restaurant closes.
Loch Bay will continue serving customers until 31 October, with existing reservations before that date unaffected and remaining tables being offered subject to availability.
Its final service will bring to an end one of the most distinctive chapters in Skye’s modern food story.