Loch Fyne has developed a considerable reputation for "fyne dining" throughout many of the restaurants and hotels scattered around the area, some of which are members of the exclusive Seafood Trail.

If Twitter is anything to go by, the Loch Fyne Restaurants surrounding London do not carry the same authenticity and character of being in Scotland and eating fresh seafood from where it was caught.

If you are new to seafood, here is a quick guide to some of the foods you may find in hotels and restaurants in the Loch Fyne area.

One of the most popular choices for foodies, and quite expensive depending on the size. All sorts of ways of serving, although the lobster is usually boiled first. The lobster is one of the largest ocean crustaceans to be found in Scottish water.

For seafood lovers and romantics, this natural aphrodisiac is served by the dozen, caught from natural oyster fields on the ocean floor or alternatively farmed locally in Loch Fyne or around the islands such as Gigha where the clear water encourages growth.

Quite a few places around the UK have a good reputation for crab, in fact Cromer has a whole tourist industry based around the "Cromer crab" to great effect. There are hundreds of crabs caught week in, week out in the Loch Fyne area, and can be purchased live from Prentice Seafoods in Tarbert or just the meat if that is all you require. Again many different ways to serve crab, traditionally though in the shell itself.

Langoustine are a very popular delicacy, what once used to be thrown back into the water in favour of the much more valuable herring are now landed by the thousand. These bottom feeders are sold all around Loch Fyne and exported across Europe and the rest of the UK.

Nick Nairn at Tarbert Seafood Festival demonstrated what to do with these tasty morsels, explaining that the langoustine should be kept alive as long as possible and cooked straight away for them to be in the best condition and tastiest condition, which is why from sea to plate is always the best.

Mussels are not as popular as langoustine or lobster, and sometimes can be quite "gritty" but when cooked properly and served fresh they can be a tasy alternative to the more popular seafoods or shellfish.

Scallop meats are also popular. Scallops, or clams, are either hand dived from the sea bed (most expensive) or dredged by fishing boat (cheapest to buy). The reason hand dived scallops are more expensive is that the meats have almost no chance of being spoiled by grit or other dirt particles when being collected, whereas dredging disturbs the whole sea bed and can easily scoop dirt and grit into the the shells ruining the meats.

Of course farming technology is improving all the time and getting closed to the great taste of wild natural shellfish and seafoods.

Loch Fyne was once famous for herring, Tarbert being one of Scotland's few registered herring ports, and this silvery fish was landed by the thousand day after day, this is the history and fame that brought Loch Fyne to the forefront of seafood reputation worldwide.

Today though very few herring are caught and these are usually out of season, towards the end of the summer, as very few boats fish for herring in modern times, due to the depleted stocks.

You can still buy Loch Fyne herring ( or cooked - Loch Fyne kippers) from time to time, but it is actually quite rare nowadays.

We hope you find this introduction helpful and we hope to provide more information in due course.