Okay, okay, it’s not the Carnegie Hall. Please believe us however when we tell you that, if you are one of the 350 souls who live in lovely Portmahomack, this is definitely the Carnegie Hall. The Cafe at the Carnegie Hall is pretty much the centre of the universe.
It all happens here
Very much a community hall, run largely by volunteers, you can book it for just about anything; birthdays, weddings, tai chi, yoga, salsa drumming .. what? When we arrived the local Salsa Drumming Band were in full flight with a practice session for an event the following day. The Budapest Café Orchestra will be performing here soon. It all happens in Portmahomack! 
At the café, Bruce Edwards, chef extraordinaire and general superhero, reigns supreme and will happily rustle you up a tasty meal .. the emphasis being on ‘happily’. A nicer, more friendly person you could not hope to meet. He is hoping to retire as soon as another franchisee can be found. If you are looking for a business opportunity in this beautiful part of the world, this could be it .. contact details below. 
Amongst other things of course we had to have a scone, made that morning by Bruce’s own fair hand. Although not a topscone it was very good. We thoroughly enjoyed it, as we did everything about this place. Nothing fancy, just good honest fare and warm friendly folk. We were staying in Portmahomack for a few days and enjoyed wall to wall sunshine every day.
No news
Because we were preoccupied walking on beaches and eating scones news gathering was not high on our list of priorities. Wifi is pretty flaky here as well. Very quickly, we were completely out of the usual swirl of current affairs. Just what you need for a relaxing wee break. So you can probably imagine our surprise, on our return, to find that rich people have been avoiding paying tax. Absolute shocker … who would have thought? As always the rules don’t seem to apply if you have lots of money but at least, thanks to the Panama papers, we get some idea of who they are. No surprises here either but you have got to hand it to the Icelanders who seem to know how to handle bankers and tax dodgers.
All this must be particularly galling though for the folks in this wee village where the local restauranteur has to have a special licence just to walk across the street, to the harbour, to buy a lobster from Jimmy, one of the local fisherman. Plenty rules up here .. and they are applied!
Even superheros need a day off so please note that the café is closed on Wednesdays and Thursdays but otherwise open 11-4pm. No cards either so take cash … you won’t need very much.
IV20 1YD tel: 01862 871798 Cafe at Carnegie TripA
We love the Carnegie cafe and make frequent visits to enjoy Bruce’s Lovely food . The scones are the very best!!!!!! We Will be sorry to lose you Bruce!! All the very best to you in your retirement. Brenda and Kenny Golspie
Maybe you guys should take it over??
Yes we had a lovely break in Portmahomack , the sun shone every day at some point for us. So happy because our son-in-law was on his first visit to the north and he was pleasantly surprised by all our good weather for our lovely walks on the beach. The cafe, Bistro and restaurant in Portmahomack are all very very good and well worth a visit. Hope somebody buys the local hotel soon and they get a local soon, it would make such a difference. But thank you to all the lovely folks we met.
Oh wow! Bruce is walking round in a rosy glow …. Everyone else just takes him for granted ……. but will of course realise what they have lost once he has gone.
However, as you pointed out a great lifestyle job in a beautiful place so let’s hope the applications roll in and he can retire and take me on a world cruise! Or a trip down theClyde more like!
Thanks anyway for your kind comments and so glad you enjoyed your break……… Charl
Hi Charlette, although we only met you all briefly it really was a pleasure. We spend much of our time in London and if you look in the archives of the blog you will find Claridges and all sorts but give us the Cafe at the Carnegie Hall any day.