A North Tyneside bistro is celebrating all things Scottish with its special Burns Night menu - with a choice of Irn Bru jelly or deep fried Mars bar for dessert.
High Tide in Cullercoats is hosting a special supper on Saturday, January 25, to celebrate the birthday of famous Scottish poet Robert Burns.
And the menu features all the country's culinary classics - from haggis, neeps and tatties to cock-a-leekie soup - down to those delicacies more commonly associated with a heavy night out.
The restaurant will be serving a classy take on the normally artery-hardening deep fried Mars bar, while the fizzy orange 'national drink' will be transformed into a dainty 'Scottish trifle'.
Posting the Burns Night Special on Facebook, High Tide said starters for the evening would be a choice of haggis, neeps and tatties with whiskey sauce, cock-a-leekie soup and Drambuie and heather cured salmon.
For their main course diners can choose from braised ox cheek, trout with mussel broth or barley and spelt risotto.
But it's the dessert menu that really draws the eye, with a choice of Scottish trifle with Irn Bru jelly and a cranachan top, a clootie dumpling with clotted cream and a deep fried mars bar with vanilla ice cream.
High Tide opened in mid-January last year following an extensive three-month refurbishment and is run by married couple Jo and Nathan Bulch.
Jo has been serving up a melting pot of tasty dishes to diners in the coastal village since she bagged her first waitressing job at its popular Italian bistro, Bruno’s, when she was just 17.
By the age of 22, she was managing Bruno’s and family trattoria Mamma Rosa’s a couple of doors down on the seafront, after her parents decided to get into the restaurant business.
Almost quarter of a century after she took her first order at Bruno’s, Jo took over the place proper, re-opening it with a new name and a fresh menu.
Burns Night celebrations should take place on January 25 or as near to the date as possible. Being a Saturday this year, however, means venues have an ideal opportunity to celebrate in true Scottish style on the day itself.
A Burns Supper can be held informally in the home of course but many venues make a formal - yet very lively - occasion of it with hearty cuisine, speeches, music and dancing.
The traditional supper starts with soup - such as Scotch broth or cullen skink - then haggis with mashed neeps and tatties followed by a Scottish dessert such as cranachan (a mixture of whipped cream, whisky, honey and fresh raspberries with toasted oatmeal) or Tipsy Laird (whisky trifle) followed by oatcakes and cheese, accompanied by a Scotch whiskey and bagpipe music.
