A chill, onshore, south-west wind whipped through the streets of Troon. It is perhaps most famous for its golf courses, but windsurfing and kite surfing are now evident, but not on the day we visited.
Frankly, not a lot of locals were out in the seaside town which, despite some stunning homes on the road in, has sadly, like many others around the Scottish coastline, seen better days.
The windy blast intensified, signifying worse weather. On came the rain and it was almost horizontal. Time for shelter and, thankfully, we were within yards of the Lido, described on social media as a modern cafe-diner.
Nobody was sitting in the outside patio, not surprisingly, but the eye-catching natural wood and stone decor was evident on walking through the front door. The slick staff had us seated at a booth in seconds. Good, plenty of space.
The extensive menu arrived and it was packed with Mediterranean dishes.
The Lido opens early, 8.30am in fact, and breakfast can be light – treacle-cured bacon, pork sausage, slow roasted tomato, your choice of egg and toasted bloomer, or a full Scottish.
There is a plant-based option – sausages, avocado, chestnut mushrooms, slow roasted tomato, potato scone, beans and toasted bloomer – or a ham and Swiss cheese benedict, a protein builder – bacon, poached eggs, guacamole, Bloody Mary tomato and sourdough or filled breakfast roll. Enough to satisfy most but there is more.
You can also have a fruit medley, pancakes, two eggs any style, smokes salmon and scrambled eggs and smashed avocado and poached eggs or eggs benedict. Phew.
Porridge with apply and cinnamon or granola with Greek yoghurt and berries are also available and there is also French toast, beans on toast of a kids breakfast, choose any four items from an extensive list. Extras include haggis and there is a juice bar.
Enough. We move on but the amount of options was indicative of the rest of the menu. Something to please even the most tricky tastes.
Lunch has sharing platters including roast red pepper hummus and pomegranate seed and tapas or Spanish meetballs and goats cheese.
There are lighter mains including haddock goujon and chips or coconut chilli chicken or fillet of seabass and gremolata, agreen sauce of chopped parsley, lemon zest and garlic.
Several salad offers were tempting including oak-aged feta and basil tomatoes or classic Caesar salad, and there were burgers. We both opted for double smashed beef by-passing various pizza options, plus items like parma ham and wild mushroom and pepperoni and hot honey.
Almost forgot, there were several pasta picks including sliced Tuscan sausage and trofie pasta boasting fennel and red pepper ragu, black olive crumb and Parmesan.
Our meal arrived with gem lettuce, dill pickle, crispy onion and smoked ketchup, £14.45 including rocket salad, fries and a brioche bun. It was scrummy.
Thankfully, the rain had relented and we ventured back out, along the seaweed strewn beach, passing a number of dog walkers, and watching a Jet2.com plane circling, perhaps a training flight fro m nearby Prestwick.
We certainly enjoyed our brief association with The Lido. It is spotlessly clean with great loos and is open seven days a week from 8.30am to 11pm, 8.30am to 12am Friday and Saturday at 11-17 West Portland Street, Troon KA10 6AB: tel: 01292 310088. Git it a try. The staff aim to please and they certainly did a job for us. Hopefully, you will have better weather than we did during our visit.
PICTURE: Outside of the Lido, Troon. Sorry, picture taken during a downpour.
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