Shucks Seafood Bar will open in Hyndland on Wednesday March 30, the latest project from Cail Bruich and Bar Brett owners Paul and Chris Charalambous, in partnership with Oil Norman, the founder of itison. The trio already work together on Epicures, the neighbourhood brunch spot across the road from the new venture.
Head Chef Shaun Haggarty will oversee things in the kitchen. Originally from Dumbarton, he moved to Glasgow in his late teens, working in restaurants including Stravaigin and One Devonshire Gardens before going to Australia to take a year out. He fell in love with the country and the seafood scene.
The former head chef of Cail Bruich said his time away opened his eyes to new culinary possibilities. “I took a lot of influences from Southeast Asian cooking and Japanese dishes. There were Spanish and Greek and Italian communities in Australia so it really was a global melting pot alongside a phenomenal larder of fresh fish. I was working in high level restaurants and we were treating fish really well. It introduced me to the curing and raw fish scene and that’s the way I now like to eat. I want to bring a little of that back to what we are doing here.”
The plan is to create a seafood restaurant that is “approachable and fun but with a really good pedigree behind it”.
The menu is designed with a snack, then a raw and cured and small plate section. “If I was coming here I’d be ordering lots of different things to try” Shaun says.
There’s also more recognisable classic fish dishes. Shucks will use primarily Scottish and British seafood, although not exclusively: “We have sustainable fish farmers in Gigha Halibut but we are also using a Dutch company who produce yellowtail kingfish, something that I know from Australia. They are amazing, a zero-impact producer who are doing it right so exactly who we want to work with. The conversation about sustainability is something that’s really important to us. We have close contact with our fish suppliers and know the provenance of everything.”
From the menu, Shaun recommends the mackerel tataki with preserved turnip, ginger ponzu and purple shiso or the Orkney scallops with carrot and langoustine butter. The specials will be decided on a boat by boat basis: “I tell my fish supplier to always contact me when he spots something beautiful. He texts me any time in the morning and it’s on the plate the next day.”
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