The Seafood Shack

Winner of 2021 National Geographic Traveller Reader Award for 'Best Food & Travel Book'

Shortlisted for the Guild of Food Writers First Book and Single Subject Book Awards 2021

Gourmand Cookbook Award Winner 2020

In 2016 two locals, frustrated at the lack of opportunities to eat the seafood landed in Ullapool, started a seafood shack on the harbour of the North West Highlands town. Serving up whatever their fishermen friends brought them every day, Kirsty Scobie and Fenella Renwick’s crowd funded project was an instant success and a new book, to be published in November, brings this to life.

 In their first book, Kirsty and Fenella tell the story of Ullapool’s Seafood Shack and bring together the recipes for the fresh, vibrant, ballsy dishes that have made The Seafood Shack such a Scottish treasure: from their famed Haddock & Pesto Wrap and the super-luxe Lobster Mac & Cheese to incredible super-local delicacies like Spiney Popcorn.

 The Seafood Shack was born out of a conversation between Kirsty and Fenella out at sea with their fishermen partners. Ullapool has around twelve local boats fishing in the clear, icy waters of The Minch: five prawn trawlers and seven inshore creel boats, with a further two crabbing boats coming in each week and ten or so white fish boats landing regularly. The vast majority of this huge variety of seafood landing daily was then transferred straight onto the back of a lorry, making it difficult to source it locally. Eager to keep a little fresh seafood for their hometown, Kirsty and Fenella opened up The Seafood Shack. The shack swiftly went onto win recognition, winning the BBC Food & Farming Award for Best Street food or Takeaway in 2017 and hosting visits from the likes of Mary Berry and Albert Roux. 

Kirsty says:

“Many tonnes of seafood are caught in our Scottish seas and then transported straight out of Ullapool. We wanted to play a part in keeping some of our seafood local and so the Seafood Shack was born. What we really love now is being behind the hatches, cooking away and chatting to our customers as they devour a haddock wrap or peel open some fresh buttery langoustines. The book tells this...read more...