Bold, nostalgic and defiantly Scottish. Made with the nation’s favourite drink. Served metres from the crashing Atlantic on one of the NC500’s most breathtaking beaches.
SCOURIE, SUTHERLAND, 8 April 2026 – Crofter’s Kitchen has launched the dish that Scottish food lovers have been waiting for. Head Chef Grant Mercer has taken the finest prawns and crayfish from the waters directly outside his kitchen and dressed them in something nobody saw coming: a fierce, punchy, house-made Irn-Bru hot sauce.
Served on a working croft above Scourie Beach with Handa Island on the horizon and the wild Atlantic below — this is sea-to-plate cooking at its most thrilling and most Scottish.
“Forget prawn marie rose. Every Highland cafe has been serving the same thing for thirty years and frankly it’s boring. Crofter’s Kitchen has got the best seafood larder in Scotland right outside the door and it’s not going to waste it on something safe. This is something fun. Something that tastes like Scotland in 2026, not 1985,” said Grant Mercer, Head Chef and Co-founder.
The Scottish prawn and crayfish roll pairs locally-sourced seafood with Mercer’s obsessively-developed Irn-Bru hot sauce — sweet, fiery, bracingly nostalgic and made entirely from scratch using Scotland’s most beloved drink. It launches alongside a new savoury crab pancake: hand-picked Kylesku crab on a homemade pancake with crisp apple, chilli, coriander and lime.
Crofter’s Kitchen sits on a working croft above Scourie Beach, one of the most photographed stretches of coastline on the NC500. The lobsters come from Paul, who lives two minutes from the kitchen. The crab is landed by Sandy at Kylesku, eight miles away. The scallops are hand-dived from the waters just offshore, visible from the croft on a clear day. Every supplier has a name. Every ingredient has a postcode.
The new dishes arrive as Crofter’s Kitchen prepares for the most significant moment in its short history. This summer, a converted 40-foot container restaurant opens metres from the beach at Scourie. It is heated, fully fitted and built to let this kitchen cook all year round.
Founded in spring 2024 by Grant and Heather Mercer on their working croft above Scourie Beach, Crofter’s Kitchen has become the NC500’s most talked-about food stop in just two seasons: Scotsman Scran Award Scotland’s Best Street Food 2025, Scottish EDGE Regional Award, 4.9 stars on Google across 500+ verified reviews, TripAdvisor number one restaurant in Scourie, and 94% year-on-year turnover growth in year two.
ENDS