By Matt Davies

Copyright dailyrecord

A travel vlogger who visited a quaint seaside village in Scotland has sampled an “outrageously good” dish that “proves” a stereotype involving local food isn’t “true at all”. Ruth Aisling , who’s on a mission to rediscover her home country, shared the culinary revelation in a recent video for her self-titled YouTube channel. In her introduction for the video, titled This Town Changed My Mind About Scottish Food, Ruth claimed Scotland appears to have developed a reputation for “boring food”, but she doesn’t think it’s “true at all”, and there’s one dish in particular that “proves it”. In an effort to prove her theory, she embarked on a trip to Cullen, a fishing village on the Moray Coast on the north-eastern coast of the Scottish mainland, overlooking the North Sea. Cullen is home to a “smoky, creamy soup” that Ruth says has been “warming” people in Scotland for “generations”. Ruth was, of course, referring to Cullen skink, a thick soup packed with smoked haddock , potatoes and onion. Ruth acquired a portion of this Scottish delicacy at the popular local eatery The Rockpool Cafe. Hungry visitors can sample the dish there for £10, served with a healthy wodge of granary bread and butter. Sitting outside to enjoy what she would later describe as a 10 out of 10 skink, Ruth fixed the camera on the food, saying: “Wow, look at those huge, big pieces of smoked haddock in there; very generous with the fish.” She then tucked into the fare and was immediately impressed, saying: “Wow; oh my gosh, that is so good. Like, gosh, like the smoky flavour of the fish, the seasoning. This is outrageously good. I mean there’s more to try, but I think this is definitely the best one I’ve ever had in my life.” Ruth then headed off to try her second offering from The Seafield Arms Hotel for £11.95 , and again enjoyed it al fresco with a portion of bread and butter. Ruth immediately noticed “loads of fish” in this iteration, and upon tasting, described it as “very good as well”. She noted that this was more creamy than the first portion, with the haddock “cooked a bit further”. Ultimately, she gave the hotel’s skink a respectable eight out of 10. Moving on to her third and final Cullen skink of the day, Ruth opted for a portion from the winners of the 2025 Cullen Skink World Championships, a local establishment named Lily’s Kitchen Cafe, for the relatively cheap price of £7.95. Offered either bread or oatcakes to accompany her skink, Ruth decided to try the latter for a change, and upon examining her latest serving, she noted how she had been given a healthy portion of fish and potato. As she sampled the skink whilst sitting on a bench outside, it was soon apparent that she was a fan, quickly saying that it was “good” and “quite similar” to the first portion she had enjoyed earlier in the day. Ruth also liked that the fish and potatoes were chopped up into smaller, more manageable chunks. In summary, the vlogger was resolute in her appreciation, giving it a commanding 10 out of 10.