A roadside food truck selling world-class seafood on Scotland’s far north west coast has become a proper restaurant with the installation of a shipping container to provide year-round indoor dining.
Set above Scourie bay on the scenic NC500 route just south of Cape Wrath, Crofter’s Kitchen opened in 2024 as a seasonal outdoor venue on a working croft. Founders Grant Mercer, former head chef at the nearby Kylesku Hotel, and his wife Heather felt the prime local produce should not be confined to ‘fine-dining’ establishments.
He says: “Crofter’s Kitchen began with a simple belief that the far North West Highlands produces some of the finest food in Scotland, and it should be available to everyone.
“We kept coming back to the same thought: the produce we could access from our local community rather than wholesalers was world-class, yet there was almost nowhere to eat it in a way that felt relaxed, creative, accessible and genuinely local. So we built our own.“
Their ’30-Mile Menu’ is built entirely on named local fishermen, crofters and producers: hand-dived scallops from Handa Island; hot langoustines from Badcall Bay in garlic herb butter; savoury crab pancakes with chilli, lime and coriander; monkfish tikka kebabs; grilled shellfish platters; slow-cooked brisket burgers and much more. The menu changes daily with whatever’s landed and harvested.
“What started small quickly became something bigger,” the Mercers say. “Travellers found us along the NC500, locals made us part of their routine, and word spread far beyond the Highlands.”
During the busy summer season, guests can order at the food truck and eat indoors or outdoors, or take away. A sit-down seasonal menu will take over as the seasons move into autumn, winter and spring.
