Stonehaven’s famous Seafood Bothy is back after its winter break. And there are some exciting new additions on the menu.
Run by Maria Lewis out of a renovated horse box located on the town’s pier, Seafood Bothy is well known for serving the freshest produce, which is caught daily by Maria’s fisherman husband Wes.
From lobster, prawns, crab and crayfish brought in on his small boat, the Even Less, the catch dictates the menu, which means it’s subject to change.
On the chalk board you’ll see dishes such as seafood platters, crab quiche, mackerel pate, and crab tortilla wraps. And this season, Maria is introducing some hot options, too.
New on the menu
Maria says: “I’ve got new things on the menu. I’m always trying to change the menu as much as I can, so I have introduced hot food to give a bit of variety.
“I have things like lobster mac ‘n’ cheese and Scotch egg pies with seafood in them.”
For opening day, Maria cooked up dishes such as lobster and king prawn mac ‘n’ cheese (£12), lobster and crab pie (£7) and crab nachos served with salsa, sour cream and hot cheese sauce (£10).
The bothy closes over the winter but is now open Thursday to Sunday from 11am-5pm until October.
While there are maintenance works planned for the town’s harbour area, Maria says it will be business as usual, though she may have to shift to different locations around the pier.
She explains: “The harbour will be shut off segment by segment but it will not be shut completely. I will be at the pier for the whole summer and I will let everyone know where via Instagram and Facebook.”
Seafood Bothy on the road
Seafood Bothy is also getting set for a busy summer with a second trailer that can attend outdoor events.
Maria has taken on seven members of staff as they prepare for events such as Stonehaven’s Midsummer Beer Happening from June 16-18 as well as various other country events and Highland games.
And the couple have more exciting developments to come, including a new place for Maria to prepare food. At the moment, she preps all her dishes at home the night before.
Maria reveals: “We’ve got a new kitchen that we have bought – a building in Cowie on the other end of the bay. We are planning to turn this into a commercial kitchen and we are hoping it will be ready next month.”
Third horse box
And if that’s not enough to be getting on with, they’re in the process of using their know-how to renovate a third horse box.
Maria adds: “We will offer it to someone to buy so that they can do the same thing somewhere else. Once it’s ready they could start business immediately.
“If Wes wasn’t fishing it would probably take him about two months to renovate. But from March it’s full on and we can’t take any time off during the season. Even more so this year because we have shows, too.”