St Andrews Links Blog

Fife’s larder: local lobster on the menu

Our Executive Chef, Ian MacDonald is passionate about the produce we use across the Home of Golf. And he’s quite happy getting his hands dirty when it comes to sourcing the freshest ingredients the Kingdom of Fife has to offer. So when local fishermen, Shane Wilbraham and Colin Brown, invited him to St Andrews harbour to join them creel fishing on St Andrews Bay he jumped at the chance.

After a quick cup of tea in their lock-up, and with the tide rising, Ian joined them onboard and headed out into the bay, hopefully, in search of lobsters.

Shane and Colin have 300 creels fishing, with 15 on any one string. They use mackerel for the bait, but any good oily fish will do. The creels have an escape hatch to allow smaller lobsters and crabs to escape due to strict regulations in place stopping the fisherman from landing any lobsters less than 87mm, anything smaller that doesn’t escape is simply put back.

With the north wind in the air, Chef is taken out to the first fishing point and delighted to discover they’ve come to a halt opposite the rock face which atop sits the Clubhouse and kitchen at The Castle Course. In the bay below, Shane and Colin begin pulling up their creels which they had already shot a couple of days ago.

The first couple come up empty but finally the first catch! Once measured, the lobster is landed and it’s a keeper! As the creels continue to come up there are another 6 to round off a good return.

Once caught, the guys have a refrigerated van and will supply to some local restaurants and hotels in the area. We’re happy to say, The Castle Course Clubhouse is one of those restaurants. Despite much of Scottish seafood being shipped abroad to France and Spain, we’re passionate about stocking local Scottish lobster as, among other reasons, it really is delicious.

Our daily deliveries of these lobsters are then prepped and cooked to perfection by our kitchen team, served with a subtle thermidor sauce and garnished with a fresh watercress and orange salad. See, I told you it was delicious!

If you’re in St Andrews then come and pay us a visit and enjoy your lobster while gazing out across the waters in which it was caught, probably only hours earlier.

Words by Fiona Pringle, St Andrews Links F&B Dept