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A plate of spaghetti in tomato sauce with a halved red lobster laid over it, at La Balena in Stornoway.
Isle of Lewis

La Balena

A family-run Italian restaurant on Francis Street in Stornoway, with pizza, pasta and island seafood, closed on Sundays and Mondays.

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La Balena, Italian for the whale, is a family-run restaurant on Francis Street in Stornoway, bringing the cooking of northern Italy to the island.

The chef, Matteo Giovanazzi, comes from a family in Compiano in Emilia-Romagna and trained at La Parmigiana in Glasgow, and he opened here with his wife Laura, who is from Lewis. The menu is familiar Italian fare, pizza and pasta, made with the island's seafood and meat from the local butchers, so the catch from Hebridean waters finds its way into the pasta. In 2024 it was named the best Italian restaurant in the North of Scotland at the Italian Awards. The dining room is bright and welcoming, there's a children's menu, and it's open from Tuesday to Saturday, with lunch and dinner midweek and food right through the afternoon and evening on Fridays and Saturdays. Book ahead for an evening table.

Close byThe Boatshed, Royal HotelThe Royal Hotel's seafood restaurant on Stornoway's harbour front, with an AA Rosette and Hebridean scallops, mussels and langoustines.1 min by roadSee itThe Boatshed's dining room at the Royal Hotel, leather chairs at laid tables on a wooden floor under panelled walls.
Close by
  1. Visitors looking round an exhibition in An Lanntair's gallery, the white walls hung with paintings and prints, sculptures on plinths.An LanntairStornoway's arts centre on the seafront, with a gallery, a cinema, a 200-seat theatre and a café bar, open since 2005.Under a mile 1 min by road
  2. Bathroom counter with labelled bottles, dried grasses and a woven storage basketSandwick Bay Candles, StornowayUnder a mile 1 min by road
  3. The lounge bar at the Cabarfeidh Hotel, blue armchairs round tables, a grand piano and a wooden bar under a chandelier.Cabarfeidh HotelA family-run four-star hotel on the edge of Stornoway, opened in the early 1970s, with a seafood and grill restaurant and a bar.Under a mile 3 min by road
  4. Lews Castle on its hill in winter sun, the towers and battlements against a clear blue sky above a field of snow.Lews CastleA Victorian castle above Stornoway harbour, with Museum nan Eilean, a café and wooded grounds owned by the community.1 mile 4 min by road
  5. Breakfast laid on a table by a tall window at Broad Bay House, the sea and the far shore beyond the balcony.Broad Bay HouseA five-star guest house of four suites on the shore at Back, seven miles north of Stornoway, with a bar and dinners some nights.8 miles 16 min by road
Directions
The Boatshed's dining room at the Royal Hotel, leather chairs at laid tables on a wooden floor under panelled walls.RestaurantsThe Boatshed, Royal Hotel0.3 miles
Blue shipping container converted into a food kiosk with serving hatch openRestaurantsCrust, Achmore8.2 miles

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The Daily for 21 October, from Scotland with love. a small wooded island reflected in a misty loch, autumn forest and hills along the far shore

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