Scotland has lost a third of its Michelin stars in the past ten years, but two exciting openings are evidence of a resurgent food scene.
Pick of the pair is Shucks in Hyndland, a hotly anticipated seafood restaurant and cocktail bar from the team behind the Michelin-starred Cail Bruich in the West End of Glasgow.
Headed up by Shaun Haggarty, previously the head chef at Cail Bruich, Shucks will combine Haggarty’s passion for Scottish fish with Asian influences and use techniques such as in-house curing, smoking and cooking on a wood-fired grill.
The experimental menu brims with intrigue, from a preserved sardines dish with smoked olive and guindilla chilli, to a herring caviar with Sardinian pecorino. Opens March 30 (shucksglasgow.com).
Over in Ratho, one of the country’s most promising young chefs is putting a modern twist on traditional Scottish dishes at Bridge Fifteen — an evenings-only restaurant that opened this week at the award-winning Bridge Inn.
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At the helm is Tyler King, previously at the Michelin-starred Prism in Berlin, who draws on his love for Scottish produce and his upbringing in the fishing village of Pittenweem to design a menu that will evolve depending on what local producers supply. “Being able to work on dishes with vegetables and pork sourced from the pub’s own garden is phenomenal,” King says.
Diners can expect dishes such as monkfish with mussel XO, burnt leek, pine nut and vermouth sauce, and crowdie cheesecake mousse with rhubarb and toasted oats.
The restaurant is open Tuesdays to Saturdays from 6pm to 9pm (bridgeinn.com).
