IT has been listed among the world's top 50 restaurants and gained its first Michelin star last year.
But just as The Three Chimneys on Skye is preparing to mark its 30th anniversary, its chef/director Michael Smith and head chef Kevin McLean are both leaving for pastures new.
The pair leave in May, but The Herald understands they are not planning a new venture together.
However, the move raises questions over whether the Three Chimneys will retain its star when the new Michelin Guide is published in October.
The new man at the helm is Scott Davies, currently head chef at The Adamson in St Andrews, which he helped open in 2012. He was runner-up in BBC's MasterChef the Professionals in 2013, and has worked with Michelin chef Adam Stokes at Glenapp Castle when it achieved its first Michelin star. He achieved his own three AA rosettes as head chef at the Rusacks Hotel, St Andrews, in 2012 at the age of 26.
His new appointment, confirmed yesterday, begins in May and makes him only the third head chef at the Three Chimneys in 30 years.
The Three Chimneys' owner Shirley Spear, who was recently appointed chair of the new Scottish Food Commission, said it was the start of a fresh chapter in the life of their well-established restaurant with rooms.
She said: "We are immensely grateful to Michael and Kevin for all their hard work, especially achieving the Michelin star, and we wish them all the very best in the future.
"As The Three Chimneys approaches its 30th anniversary next month, we are very much looking to the future and in Scott we believe we have someone who can work with us to take the business forward to a whole new level."
The restaurant at Colbost, near Dunvegan, is a former original 18th century stone crofthouse and was founded in 1984 by Eddie and Shirley Spear, who remain its owners and maintain daily contact with staff.
A self-taught chef, Mrs Spear was an early pioneer of using local ingredients from Skye and elsewhere in Scotland, and was a columnist at The Herald Magazine from 2001.
The restaurant has held three AA rosettes continuously for 15 years and has been recognised in 30 consecutive editions of the Good Food Guide.
Mr Davies, who was born in Wales and moved to Scotland ten years ago, said: "For 30 years The Three Chimneys has been blazing a trail for local, seasonal food in Scotland and I'm honoured to be the chef who will lead the kitchen on the next part of a very special journey."
Its remote location and continued use of Skye's authentic, natural larder from land and sea have won rave critical reviews from as far afield as London, France and New York.
The Three Chimneys and The House Over-By provided the very first five-star accommodation on the Isle of Skye when the bedrooms were built in 1999. Since then, the long-established reputation of this popular Scottish restaurant with rooms has spread far and wide around the globe.
Now graded with five Gold stars by both the AA and VisitScotland, The Three Chimneys and The House Over-By also holds the AA's Inspector's Choice award for 2011/12, placing it in the top 10 per cent of quality places to stay throughout the UK and Ireland
Mr Smith joined The Three Chimneys in 2004, working with Spear prior to taking over as chef/director in 2006. He is a winner on the BBC cookery contest Great British Menu, and gained the restaurant's first Michelin star last year.
Skye's only other Michelin starred restaurant is Kinloch Lodge in Sleat.
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