The Rise of 'New Scottish'

Apologies for the lack of posts of late - I've been horribly busy with work and had no time at all.

We were up in Scotland this weekend to tell the in-laws the good news that Spud is expecting our first 'Spudlet' in Spring next year. In celebration, we went to a local restaurant - Bonars in Haddington (formerly Poldrates). Bonars is a good exponent of what I call 'New Scottish' cooking - that's creative use of local ingredients.

For years, Scotland has been - rightly - lambasted for the Scottish diet (anything you like so long as it's deep fried). 'Quality' restaurants often provided boring menus showing little imagination. With few exceptions (the Vine Leaf in St Andrews being a great one), Scottish restaurants have done little with the terrific natural ingredients the region produces.

All this is changing - and quickly. A look in the local Yellow Pages finds a number of restaurants listed under 'Scottish' - last time we were at the in-laws we took this approach to finding a restaurant and had a very nice meal at The Creel in Dunbar.

So this weekend, we went to Bonars and had a very good meal indeed (no surprise, as I had one of the best - and cheapest - lobsters there last year). While all the food was good, I think it's worth noting the 'New Scottish' elements:
Spud and mother-in-law both went with the fishcake to start. This was a single, large sphere of fishcake looking suspiciously like a Scotch Egg. Inside, the cake was predominantly salmon with enough potato to hold it together and generously flavoured with local lobster. Mother-in-law, like so many of her generation in Scotland, is not a devotee of crustaceans and we confidently told her the fishcake would be far more salmon-y than lobster-y. We were wrong and I'm glad - particularly as she liked it so much. Perhaps we can get her to order the whole lobster next time!

Father-in-law went with venison for his main. Scotland is rightly famed for its game - though it seems hard to come-by in most town centres when it comes to butchers or supermarkets. The venison looked good (and must have been good as I didn't get a taste!) and came with interesting 'beignets' of haggis (little fried rounds of haggis mixed with mashed potato) and a good red wine jus.

My lamb came with a nice sauce of red wine and elderberries - to be honest, I could have taken more elderberry flavour with it, though I appreciate it is somewhat assertive and would be too much for most people.

My only real concern with the New Scottish restaurants found in towns like Haddington (a small market town housing may commuters to Edinburgh) is the clientele - although Bonars was busy on Saturday evening, it is not a large restaurant and it was not fully booked. Even though the food was good value (a whole lobster for £15.95??), people seem to be put off by 'smart' restaurants in places like this. And I wish people would take time to enjoy their meals more. We were not the last in to eat - by more than half an hour - but we were the last to leave.
And finally it disappoints me that there isn't more invention with fish in the New Scottish places - it seems the locals aren't interested in it - it always seems to be the same: sea bass or cod. Where are the mackerel, the pollack, the local herrings, the John Dory, the monkfish...?

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