Seafood - Following the Seafood Trail

The North Coast 500 follows some of the cleanest and most productive fishing grounds in Europe, although surprisingly little white fish is now landed around much of the route. The small boats working from North Highland harbours concentrate largely upon shellfish, lifting creels filled with lobster, crab and Norway lobster. Place that humble creature on a restaurant menu, give it its French name, langoustine, and somehow several pounds are added to the price before it reaches your plate.

For guests who particularly enjoy seafood, we can turn the journey into an informal Highland Seafood Trail. On the east coast, that may involve local seafood and wood-fired cooking at Sutor Creek in Cromarty, lobster rolls or fish tacos from Surf and Turf in Dornoch, or fresh crab and lobster beside Dunbeath Harbour at Tasty Toes. These places offer something particularly appealing because they remove much of the ceremony. You can sit beside the water, eat seafood caught nearby and taste the ingredient rather than the decoration surrounding it.

The north coast is considerably more difficult. Despite travelling beside rich fishing grounds, there is no continuous procession of harbour shacks selling freshly cooked shellfish. Seafood is more commonly found inside hotel restaurants, where a proper evening meal can become expensive. The west coast provides more variety, from Crofter’s Kitchen at Scourie and the Seafood Shack in Ullapool to waterfront restaurants around Badachro and Kishorn. Opening days are frequently seasonal, queues can be considerable and the day’s menu depends upon what has actually been landed.

The price surprises some visitors because the seafood is caught nearby, but local does not necessarily mean inexpensive. Highland shellfish enters an international market, with buyers in France, Spain, Italy and elsewhere prepared to pay well for live and freshly landed produce. A restaurant or seafood shack selling it locally must compete with that export value. My advice is simple: choose an informal harbour or croft-side kitchen when you can, accept that a formal seafood dinner will cost considerably more, and order what is fresh rather than what you had already decided to eat. It may not be cheap, but my goodness, it can be fantastic.

To learn more, book one of our North Coast Explorer private tours.