Oysters on Hay, Wild Highland Venison and a Croft Roast: Business of the Year Crofter’s Kitchen Launches ‘Hairst’
Award-winning North Coast 500 restaurant Crofter’s Kitchen will extend its season with four weekends of autumn dining, built around produce from its working croft and Scotland’s far north-west coast.
SCOURIE, UK. August 25th, 2026 — Oysters served on hay, wild Highland venison with brambles from the hedgerows and vegetables grown metres from the kitchen will form part of a new autumn dining experience launching on one of Scotland’s most remote stretches of coastline this October.
Crofter’s Kitchen, the restaurant overlooking Scourie Beach on the North Coast 500, has announced Hairst — a four-week autumn menu running from Thursday 15 October until Sunday 8 November.
Named after the Scots word for harvest, Hairst /hɛrst/ marks the point in the year when Crofter’s Kitchen moves away from the pace of its summer food truck and into the restaurant on Croft 17, the working family croft at Scouriemore where much of the produce used in the kitchen is grown and reared.
The idea is simple: cook what is ready on the croft, take what is available from the surrounding coast and source the rest as close to Scourie as possible.
It means an autumn menu rooted very specifically in this part of the Highlands.
Cape Wrath oysters are served on hay with cucumber granita and croft herb oil. Hand-dived scallops arrive in the shell with brown butter and samphire. Wild North West Highland venison haunch is served with fondant potato, charred kale and bramble and red wine jus, while Kylesku langoustines are grilled with garlic croft herb butter and bread.
Croft-grown celeriac, squash, kale and herbs appear throughout the menu, while the eggs at the centre of the Stornoway black pudding Scotch eggs come from Crofter’s Kitchen’s own hens.
It is food with a deliberately short journey to the plate.
“We talk a lot about our 30-mile menu, but during Hairst some of the food has travelled closer to 30 feet,” said Heather Mercer, co-founder of Crofter’s Kitchen.
“The celeriac and squash are coming out of the ground here, the hens are laying the eggs, there are brambles in the hedges and we have some of the best seafood in Scotland being landed around us. Rather than decide what we want to cook and then find the ingredients, we start with what this place is giving us and build the menu from there.”
Hairst also sees Sundays at Crofter’s Kitchen become something entirely different.
The à la carte menu gives way to a three-course Croft Roast, served throughout the day for £55 per person.
Guests choose between wild North West Highland venison with bramble and juniper jus, Drumbeg roast pork with crisp crackling, or a roast built around croft-grown squash, celeriac and charred kale.
All arrive with croft-herb roast potatoes, a giant Yorkshire pudding, roasted croft-grown celeriac, heather-honey carrots, parsnips and gravy.
Desserts continue the same sense of place. There is warm clootie dumpling with homemade butterscotch sea salt sauce, while an optional ice cream combines heather honey with The Hearach Single Malt from the Isle of Harris. Another pudding pairs dark chocolate with foraged North West Highland brambles, hazelnut praline and sea salt.
“Summer up here is fast,” Heather continued. “Hairst is the opposite. The days are shorter, the restaurant is warm, the candles are on and we have time to cook in a completely different way.
“It is probably the season that feels most like us. You have this wild coastline outside, the weather can be doing absolutely anything, and then you come inside and eat oysters, langoustines, venison and vegetables that have come from almost exactly where you are sitting.
“For people willing to make the journey north in October, we want it to feel really special.”
From Food Truck to Business of the Year
Crofter’s Kitchen was founded by husband-and-wife team Heather and Grant Mercer in spring 2024, initially operating from a single food truck on their family croft above Scourie Beach.
Grant, a chef with more than 17 years’ experience, leads the kitchen, while Heather has overseen the growth of the business and its focus on making the remote north-west Highland location part of the dining experience rather than an obstacle to it.
Two seasons later, the business has expanded with a permanent container restaurant set into the croft, alongside its original food truck.
Crofter’s Kitchen has since collected more than 500 five-star Google reviews, is ranked number one on Tripadvisor in Scourie, and was named Business of the Year 2026 at the Highlands and Islands Food and Drink Awards.
Despite its growth, its sourcing philosophy has remained deliberately small.
Seafood including oysters, langoustines and scallops is sourced from the surrounding north-west coast, meat comes from the croft and nearby Highland producers wherever possible, and increasing amounts of fruit, vegetables, herbs and eggs are produced on Croft 17 itself.
“Being this remote forces you to think differently,” Heather said.
“There is no wholesale market around the corner and we don’t want there to be. If we can grow it here, rear it here, forage it or buy it from somebody down the road or around the coast, that is where we start.
“Hairst is probably the clearest expression of that we have done so far.”
Hairst runs for four weekends only, from Thursday 15 October to Sunday 8 November 2026.
The autumn à la carte menu is served Thursday, Friday and Saturday, with the three-course Croft Roast taking over on Sundays.
Crofter’s Kitchen will then close briefly before returning with its Christmas menu from 26 November until 20 December.
Advance booking is strongly recommended.
For menus and reservations, visit crofterskitchen.com/autumn-menu
ENDS