The Milton has taken over Raemoir House Hotel

Neil & Julie Rae, the owners of the Milton, are now also the proud owners of the Raemoir House Hotel and, with the same efforts that were applied to the Milton, are about to start work on getting the hotel back to its position as one of the area's leading Country House Hotels. The hotel has been neglected in recent years so with the help of some of the Milton Team - David Littlewood (Executive Chef) and Jan Leatham (Events), the intention is to start with the interior refurbishment immediately, extend the menus and dining options and relocate the marquee to provide a top quality venue for all occasions.

We will keep you up to date as things progress but look forward to welcoming you to the Raemoir in future. In the meantime look out for some new menus and arrangements at the Milton which will continue to operate in conjunction with the hotel.

New Lighter Lunch Menu

We have seen various, and hopefully always improved, changes to our menus over the last five years at the Milton but Grampian's and particularly Deeside's abundant larder provides us with continually increasing choices from which to create our menus.

Our Kitchen Brigade, headed up by Executive Chef (and a Masterchef of Great Britain) David Littlewood, continue to develop their ideas which I am proud to offer to our discerning customers. Each of the team have won one award or another:

Bob Miller - Head Chef
Grampian Seafood Chef of the Year 2010 (Gold Medal)

Alex Hay - Sous Chef
Grampian Chef of the Year 2010 (3rd Place / Silver Medal)

Craig McKenzie - Chef de Partie
Scottish Young Seafood Chef of the Year 2009 (Gold Medal)

Becky Purcell
Becky is our latest and youngest recruit and is already showing signs of being able to hold her own in the competitive world.

On the back of being awarded an AA rosette, we are now looking more closely at what we provide and it appears there is an increasing demand for a lighter lunch option at the start of the week.

To satisfy this, we have produced a new menu for Monday and Tuesday which will hopefully satisfy as many palates as possible - from Open Sandwiches and Soups, which change daily, to our irreplaceable Smoked Haddock Fishcakes and a choice of Platters, each of which is made up of Homemade or Aberdeenshire produce.

We hope everyone will enjoy the new menu. However if you visit and feel we have missed the mark and you would have preferred something else at the start of the week, then please let us know and we will look at amending where appropriate. Our usual All Day Menu is available from Wednesday onwards, our Fine Dining menu on Saturday night and the Roast Beef Special on a Sunday as always.

Grampian Chef of the Year Competition

The Milton has been celebrating this week as our Head Chef Bob Miller won the prestigious award of Grampian Seafood Chef of the Year and our Chef de Partie Alex won Third Place in Grampian Chef of the Year. The competition was held on Monday 24th May with the awards dinner being hosted at the Marcliffe.

Bob and Alex worked very hard and spent a lot of time practising and perfecting their recipes for the competition. Former chairman of the Masterchefs of Great Britain, George McIvor, who led the judging panel said 'the standard of cooking and the presentation of all the food had warmed his heart.

Congratulations Bob and Alex

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News from the Kitchen

This month has been a demanding one for the kitchen, with cookery demonstrations, cookery classes and students to teach, the Chefs have been kept very busy! Our first cookery demonstration was held at the beginning of this month and we are pleased to say it was very well received. We had great feedback from all involved and the Chefs enjoyed the experience as well. We are definitely planning to run some more in future months.

Our first ever cookery course is now under way with the first classes being held this week. Participants will learn to cook a gourmet three course meal and will hopefully have some new skills by the end of the course. The course kicked off on Monday night with a great first session and we hope it will continue this way as this is a learning experience for the Kitchen Team as well.

Another project for Our Executive Chef David is to spend time with some student chefs who come to the Milton on day release from other establishments one day per week. David is lecturing and assessing the students, helping them to achieve their Level 2 SVQ in Professional Cookery.

With Grampian Chef of the Year competition looming, the rest of the Kitchen Team are trying to find time to plan and create new exciting dishes. Good luck guys and gals!

New Girl

Hi, my name is Becky Purcell and I have just moved down from Thurso to Aberdeen. It is fortunate for me that my sister is Restaurant Supervisor at the Milton Restaurant and through her I have been able to get work here! I am currently training to be a chef, doing my Modern Apprenticeship SVQ Level 2 Professional Cookery through Hospitality Training. My assessor is our Executive Chef David Littlewood. When not in the kitchen I help out Front of House, and although it is all very new I am enjoying gaining experience from both sides! Well that's all from me now but I will keep you updated on my SVQ progress!

Valentines Weekend

Here it is again, the weekend that the hospitality industry loves and dreads in equal measure!

It is great to have a fully booked weekend with waiting lists for the ever hopeful, and it is lovely that there are still so many romantic souls out there. It can also be quite exciting; one year we had a proposal which the gentleman wanted to be incorporated in to the menu - I had to make sure the right person got that menu!

On the flip side there can be quite a lot of pressure in the build up to the day but only because we are trying so hard to get everything right on the night(s). This year we are running the Valentines menu on Saturday and Sunday evening, so hopefully making the evening special for around 60 couples in total. We put a lot of thought in to the preparation, from polishing the champagne glasses and planning the layout of the restaurant to making up personalised gifts for guests to take away.

Our Executive Chef David Littlewood has come up with a mouth-watering five course menu starting with an Oyster Bloody Mary and ending with a little gift from us - Happy Valentines weekend everyone!