Hidden Scotland
Sign in

Food and drink
in Shetland.

It’s 20:05 in Shetland.
Shetland Islands

Fish suppers at Brae, fiddles in Lerwick.

Eating out in Shetland is built on what the islands land and grow, from haddock and Vidlin mussels to lamb from the hill. Lerwick has most of the choice, with coffee and cake in a courtyard off the Esplanade, a café bar on the rocks over Breiwick Bay and a family kitchen on Commercial Street. Out at Brae, Britain's most northerly chip shop fries fish landed at Shetland ports. At Eshaness there's soup with a view of the Drongs, and beyond Walls a laird's house cooks dinner at the end of the road. Places are far apart outside Lerwick, so plan where you'll eat.

CafésRestaurantsBars
Place of the day19 hours ago

Fjarå Café Bar.

A café bar on the rocks of Breiwick Bay in Lerwick, with windows on the sea, from breakfast to cocktails.

See the place
Tonight18 hours agoShetland IslandsNo88 Kitchen and BarRestaurantShetland IslandsFrankie's Fish and ChipsRestaurantShetland IslandsBurrastow HouseRestaurant

A table for tonight.

Restaurants to book ahead, and the ones you can still walk into.

See all the restaurants
From our guide16 hours ago

Braewick Café.

Braewick sits above the shore on the road out to the Eshaness cliffs, and its big window looks straight at the Drongs, a cluster of jagged sea stacks standing off the point. The food is simple and good: soup, sandwiches, home bakes and a proper pot of tea. It also runs the caravan and camping site on the same ground. There is nowhere else to eat for a long way in either direction, which makes it handy, but the view alone is worth the stop after a blowy walk on the cliffs.

See the place
Newly discovered15 hours agoShetland IslandsDa Lang AyreWalkShetland IslandsScalloway MuseumAttractionShetland IslandsKnab coastal walkWalkShetland IslandsThe Snap, FetlarWalkShetland IslandsFethalandAttractionShetland IslandsKeen of HamarAttraction

Some good places to go, newly added to the site.

The newest places on our pages on Shetland.

Browse everywhere to go
From our guide14 hours ago

Glansin Glass.

Glansin Glass is a studio on Unst where Cheryl Jamieson makes fused glass in colours taken from the island around her: the greens of serpentine, the greys of a sea fog, the blue of a bright day. The name is an old Unst dialect word meaning bright and shiny. She grew up in the north of the island and now works from a studio at Uyeasound, where you can look into the workshop and see pieces being made. It is a long way north, so pair it with a day exploring Unst.

See the place
Afterwards13 hours agoShetland IslandsLerwick Distillery400 yardsShetland IslandsShetland Museum600 yardsShetland IslandsShetland Museum and Archives600 yards

Round the corner from Peerie Shop Café.

Three good places a short walk away: Lerwick Distillery, Shetland Museum and Shetland Museum and Archives.

See Peerie Shop Café
From our guide12 hours ago

Frankie's Fish and Chips.

Frankie's is the most northerly fish and chip shop in the UK, and in 2015 the National Fish and Chip Awards named it the best independent takeaway in the country. It sits by the water at Brae, half an hour north of Lerwick. The fish is haddock and cod landed at Shetland ports, with local mussels and scallops too, in a light, crisp batter. Beyond the classic fish supper there is a mussel pot and scallops in garlic butter. Eat in at the tables looking over Busta Voe, or take it outside and find a bench by the water.

See the place
From our guide11 hours ago

Burrastow House.

Burrastow stands on its own at the end of a single-track road beyond Walls, a laird's house of 1759 looking across the water to the island of Vaila. The kitchen cooks what Shetland gives it, from fish landed that day to lamb from the hill and vegetables from the garden. Dinner is served in a dining room with a fire and only a few tables, so you will need to book. Enjoy the drive out, as the houses stop and the sea appears on three sides. There are rooms if you would rather stay the night.

See the place
From our guide10 hours ago

Vaila Fine Art.

Vaila Fine Art is a small gallery on Commercial Street in Lerwick, showing work by artists living and working in Shetland alongside visiting exhibitions. Expect island landscapes and seascapes, wildlife drawing and marine painting. The hanging changes often, the rooms are small enough to take in at an easy pace, and the prices are on the wall. It is a good place to find something to take home, made by someone who looks at this light every day.

See the place
From our guide9 hours ago

Hoswick Visitor Centre.

The blue-clad visitor centre in the small South Mainland village of Hoswick does three jobs well. Its café serves coffee, light lunches, home-made cakes and ice cream, with full breakfasts in the morning. The shop sells Shetland arts and crafts, handmade things and books. Upstairs on the mezzanine is the village's own archive of photographs and stories about its fishing and textile past. The people here know the local walks and history and are glad to share them. The building is step-free throughout, with a small lift to the mezzanine.

See the place
From the magazine8 hours agoThe printed copy of Issue 02Issue 02Spring / Summer 2021

At Uradale Farm, near Scalloway in Shetland, Ronnie Eunson and his son Jakob let their native Shetland sheep forage from the heather on the hilltops right down to the seaweed at the tideline.

The father and son grow lamb, beef and wool from their native sheep and cattle, and their yarns come only from Native Shetland sheep. Every part of looking after the animals is certified by the Scottish Organic Producers Association, the highest level of accreditation available in Shetland for animal welfare and health. The farm covers 2,000 acres of naturally challenging land, with grazing all the way from the hilltops to the shore. Uradale is among the Shetland farms and crofts that even make yarn from their own sheep's fleeces, and it is a way of farming that suits the breed, small and hardy enough to stay on the hills all year round.

Read the full story in Issue 02
From our guide7 hours ago

The Shetland Bookshop.

The Shetland Bookshop is a family business on Commercial Street, and its Shetland shelves are the reason to come. It aims to stock every book about the islands that is in print, which is a longer list than you might expect: folklore, archaeology, knitting, dialect, wrecks, birds and the Norse. It publishes a good many of those books itself. Ask for something and someone will know where it is, or whether it exists at all. If you want to understand the islands rather than just look at them, start here.

See the place