SECOND TIME LUCKY

The SECC in Glasgow played host to ScotHot, the hospitality and catering trade show, this week and was a fine backdrop to the Knorr Scottish Chef of the Year competition in which our Executive Chef David Littlewood, who is no stranger to awards, decided to try his hand! A lot of preparation, effort and cost goes into such an entry and he and Head Chef John Chomba spent many an evening and night, if the restaurant service was late, going over and over the menu. Each course has to be produced four times and each trial run they did allowed them to hone the detail and timing. The two days before the event was spent chasing suppliers to get the ingredients right and supplies confirmed, with everything else that continually needs attention it was difficult not to get caught up in the excitement.


With the all the kitchen equipment that could be moved and carried packed into a couple of cars, the boys headed for Glasgow at the crack of dawn to be ready for the 12 noon start. The travelling support managed to leave and travel at a more leisurely pace and then regroup in the bar before the Awards dinner! We didn't get the chance to speak to David or John much before sitting for the meal but by all accounts the earlier bar talk suggested competition had been fierce, more so than usual - it transpired no first time entrant had ever been recognised or given an award in the past.


Courtesy of the Milton I have had the pleasure of attending awards ceremonies in the past and there is no doubt about the levels of excitement these occasions present, but this was another level. I was almost beginning to understand Kate Winslett's recent breathless Oscar acceptance speech! Having gone through all the team results it wasn't until 11pm before the Chef of the Year Awards came around. As a precedent, and as a result of the levels of entry, there were awards for the individual course dishes as well as an overall winner and in the former David excelled as winner of the Best Main Course, a fanatastic Venison creation that we will feature on our Saturday night A La Carte menu. In all fairness I think it was a good result for him and a great result for us. John was pumped up for it all as well so it may be in two years time we may have two entrants for the same title.......

Second time lucky?

CHEFS CHASING AWARDS

A busy time ahead for the Milton kitchen - as well as their usual daily routines, which mercifully haven't seemed to have slowed down yet as a result of any "Credit Crunch", all the chefs bar one, are lining themselves up for upcoming competitions! All are busy preparing and reviewing menus and recipes, with each having one of the others helping. It's a fantastic display of passion for their chosen profession given they work hard just keeping on top of the restaurant demands. I cannot be naiive and think I can keep this team together forever but given such diverse ages, backgrounds and aims I am very proud to have such a team of harworking and dedicated people to rely for the mainstay of the Milton. Long may it continue.

David Littlewood is our Executive Chef and his passion for all things culinary is unwavering. A chance meeting introduced us and hopefully he is as grateful for that day as I. His skills, commitment and much burning of midnight oil after restaurant service in trial runs have been recognised in the past when he won the coveted local title of Grampian Chef of the Year 2007 and his passion is clearly infectious, encouraging one of our Commis Chefs at the time to win the Young Chef of the Year 2007 (who has since moved on to the dizzy heights of Inverlochy Castle) and assisting Head Chef, John Chomba, to claim the Grampian Chef of the Years title in 2008. For his continuing efforts David has reached the finals of the Scottish Chef of the Year 2009 which is to be held in Glasgow later this week.

Maybe I shouldn't tempt fate by hoping that I will have some exciting news to report later this week but we do wish him all the best and will be in Glasgow to cheer him on.....