At Dunedin's Scottish restaurant Bracken, there's tartan on the walls, the staff wear kilts and haggis and whisky are always on the menu.
Chef David Burt uses his grandmother's traditional haggis recipe, but also gets creative with the meaty pudding, adding it to sauces, ravioli and even making vegetarian and dessert versions.
Haggis at Bracken Restaurant, Dunedin Photo: Bracken
David, who trained with a French chef in the Scottish highlands, says people who come to Bracken are often quite shocked that Scottish food can be exciting.
Fellow Scots who visit sometimes "get a wee tear in their eye" at the taste of home.
Jacqueline and David Burt. owners of the Dunedin restaurant Bracken Photo: Bracken
David and his wife Jacqueline emigrated to New Zealand 12 years ago.
He says that, apart from lobster, Otago offers all of the produce he used to get back in Scotland.
"People down here are so passionate about their food and what they produce… it's really easy for me."
At a recent theme night celebrating a new season of the Scottish TV series Outlander, David cooked salmon in the same way his people would have in the 18th century.
"They'd grill atop the fireplace. The housewife would sit the salmon on top of there with some lovely vegetables and onion greens and cook it there for four or five hours on a slow heat so when the husband came in it was all ready. So I did the same… I tried to cook it in the same way."
Also on the menu at Bracken is brie deep-fried with a ground oatmeal crust.
This wouldn't be a surprising combination to a Scottish person, David says, as oatmeal finds its way into everything in Scotland.
Fried up, oatmeal gets nice and crunchy, he says, and this works well in porridge.
"If you're making porridge in the morning, toast your oatmeal up in a pan first so it goes nutty and brown and then chuck it in milk and cinnamon and stuff. It changes the whole taste of your porridge. It's fantastic."
Bracken's dessert menu features recipes from David's grandmother who he says is his biggest cooking inspiration.
"We weren't a fancy people, we didn't have a lot of food, so we ate what we caught, we ate what we grew.
"My whole family showed love with food. You go round to my mother's house today and there's enough food to feed a village even though it's just yourself popping round. Food and family is everything."
Scottish recipes from the RNZ collection:
Cullen Skink is a hearty stew traditionally made using smoked haddock. Here Tony Smith uses hot or cold smoked salmon.
Photo: Akaroa Salmon
This simple stew by Lois Daish is much more delicious than the ingredients might suggest.
Photo: Little Broken
Granny Peggy's Iced Gingerbread
Any Scottish bakery worth their salt has iced gingerbread, and for Jennifer Elliot, it's the ultimate in comforting home-baking.
Photo: Daniel Whiting Photography
Orange and Whisky Melting Moments
Geoff Scott's melt-in-your-mouth biscuits are livened up with a touch of scotch.
Photo: Equagold
