A new Brazilian-inspired restaurant is to open overlooking the Moray Firth as part of the major transformation of Macduff Aquarium.
Family-run hospitality company Maré Brasil has been selected to operate the new café and restaurant being created within the aquarium’s seafront extension.
The venue will have space for up to 65 diners and will serve family-friendly menus using locally sourced ingredients combined with Brazilian influences.
It will occupy part of the aquarium’s new second-floor extension, providing panoramic views across the Moray Firth as well as looking down into the attraction’s centrepiece aquarium tank.
Maré Brasil is run by mother-and-son team Angela and Otavio Ferreira, who were selected following a competitive process by Aberdeenshire Council.
The restaurant will operate throughout normal aquarium opening hours, but there are also plans for evening opening and special events – potentially establishing it as a destination in its own right rather than simply somewhere for aquarium visitors to eat.
Otavio Ferreira said the business was looking forward to “bringing together warm Brazilian hospitality, fresh food and excellent customer service” in Macduff.
The restaurant is one of the most significant additions to Macduff Aquarium as it undergoes a major redevelopment designed to turn the attraction into a year-round visitor destination.
The project is being supported by £6 million from the UK Local Regeneration Fund, alongside investment from Aberdeenshire Council and financial support from the Scottish Government and Friends of Macduff Aquarium. It forms part of the wider Cultural Tides: North Sea Connections in Aberdeenshire programme.
The distinctive circular aquarium building has been expanded, with the new facilities designed to make greater use of its location on the Moray Firth coast.
As well as the restaurant, the redevelopment includes new and upgraded displays, additional educational facilities, improved retail space and a lobster hatchery where larvae can be raised before being released into the wild to help support local populations.
Plans for the restaurant were also shaped by public consultation. Residents said they wanted local produce to be used, sustainable practices, good accessibility and the option of eating there in the early evening.
The new space will be accessible by lift as well as stairs, while a Changing Places toilet is also being installed as part of the redevelopment.
Allan Rae, head of service for Live Life Aberdeenshire, which operates the aquarium, said the restaurant would help create a space that could be used by local residents as well as visitors.
Work is now continuing on the internal fit-out of the aquarium ahead of its planned reopening this autumn.