Three Chimneys

To get to Scotland's famed Three Chimneys restaurant, you drive to what feels like the very ends of the earth in the wildly beautiful northwest corner of the Isle of Skye. You will not regret making the trip. Opened in an old stone home on the sea by self-trained cook Shirley Spear in 1985, this elegant restaurant serves miraculously pristine seafood—langoustines the size of small lobsters; sweet king scallops harvested yards from the kitchen door—all of it prepared with the gentlest touch, these days by head chef Michael Smith (pictured). We love the Scottish home cooking classics on the menu, too, like oatcakes and steamed marmalade pudding and partan bree, a creamy crab bisque.