When you think of Scottish shortbread, most Americans like me will think of Walkers. You see that plaid package everywhere, in the supermarket, at the airport, and when we were at the AirBnb we passed by the factory. My Scottish friend Yvonne suggested we visit Dean's of Huntly, which she thought had a much better product. Really? Let's go! Dean's is located in the town of Huntly. It's not an actual factory tour, but you can observe them make and package their shortbread. There's a gift store, which sells their imperfect shortbread, and they even have a café for a quick bite (before 2:00) or for a cup of tea. We arrived just in time for a light lunch, which Steve, Stephen and I had the fish n chips, while Yvonne had the Macaroni and Cheese, which look oh so gooey and delicious. For a touristy café, the food was very good, and best of all, affordable! After lunch we went upstairs to observe the packaging of the shortbread, and then went to the giftstore to buy shortbread to take home. They had the discards / imperfect ones on sale, for as low as one pound, versus the retail price of 4 pounds in the market. They also had deals such as their full size tins, normally 10 pounds retail, was on sale for 2 at 10 pounds. We left with 10 tins of shortbread! read more

See all

Decently priced food and interesting little souvenir store makes it a nice place to visit while in the Huntly area. I came here to eat a quick lunch since it was close by Huntly Castle. I ordered the fish and chips and it turned out pretty good. I guess it's hard to find a place in Scotland who makes bad fish and chips. The fish was crispy and the chips weren't bad. The side of peas are always a nice touch to the dish as well. Overall it was a bit greasy, but what do you expect from deep fried food? We ordered water as our drink and it is self serve. Apparently this place makes good short bread. I didn't try any but they advertise that it's hand made and famous. My co-worker ordered a bag of it to go for just a pence but we ended up losing it. read more

See all

Buy your shortbread here rather than the high street chains. Great to be able to see the stuff being made through a few windows and what a wide range. Staff very helpful and the cafe is good read more