Stonehaven seafood shack the Seafood Bothy is set to serve some of the freshest seafood in town as its new season starts.
Owner Maria Lewis is reopening the portable business on the Stonehaven pier for its seventh season.
They serve street food but the menu can change depending on what fish is caught that day.
She said: “My husband is the fisherman, I basically work around what he gives me. So primarily it’s crab and lobster, but it also could be haddock, cod, mackerel in season.
“So I could get some odd things as well but my core business is crab and lobster.
“I’ve got to try and make that into several styles of dishes. I can’t just serve a crab and lobster, that wouldn’t be street food.
“If you put into a street food format a lot more people will eat it, rather than giving them the whole crab or lobster to navigate their way around, which most people can’t do.”
The most popular current servings are a vibrantly coloured lobster burrito (£15) and crab tortilla wraps (£12).
The burrito’s tortilla is made from beetroot, giving it its distinctive purple colour. It also contains beans, rice, spinach and hot sauce and a cooler, yoghurt sauce.
The crab tortilla wraps are flour tortillas with garlic mayonnaise, salad, white and brown crab meat, finished with carrot.
She said: “I’m not putting too much on because I want people to taste the actual seafood.”
Seafood Bothy owner says tourists returning to Stonehaven
Navigating the pandemic proved challenging for many, but the Seafood Bothy‘s business model proved well equipped to deal with Covid.
In addition to their ‘permanent’ location on the pier at Stonehaven, they have mobile trucks they take to events.
Maria Lewis said: “Obviously it’s been wavy with Covid, but that didn’t affect us because we carried on because we’re outside. The only thing was the geography of the people coming was different.”
“We lost all the international tourists, but they’ve came back last year.”
Seafood Bothy owner Maria Lewis said she has already seen tourists returning to Stonehaven this year despite it being the off-season.
She said: “I think this year we’re going to see a lot more because people are a lot more comfortable with travelling again.”
She expects come the warmer months in May they’ll be running non-stop.
Conversation