Now the award-winning brothers Chris and Jeff Galvin are being tipped to cause a stir in the kitchens of Edinburgh's famous Caledonian Hotel, the residence of choice of Sir Sean Connery when he visits the capital.
The French-trained chefs will take over the Pompadour Restaurant at the landmark Georgian hotel – which is to undergo a £24 million refit by owners Hilton Worldwide and will be rebranded as a luxury Waldorf Astoria hotel when it re-opens in August.
The brothers, who own a restaurant in Harrods plus two others in London, will also take over the ground-floor Brasserie de Luxe at the new Caledonian Waldorf Astoria.
They will not move to Edinburgh but will visit every month and have already appointed Craig Sandle, formerly of Restaurant Number One at the Balmoral, as head chef. Dale Dewsbury, who worked at the two-Michelin starred Restaurant Andrew Fairlie at Gleneagles for 10 years, will be manager.
Speaking exclusively to The Herald, Chris Galvin, 53, who set up Terence Conran's critically acclaimed Etain restaurant in Glasgow in 1997 and appointed the Sunday Herald's columnist Geoffrey Smeddle as its head chef, said he had always been affiliated with Scotland.
"My step-father was from Glasgow and I got married in Dumfries," he said. "Thirty years ago I did my apprenticeship at the Ritz and worked with many Scots chefs, all of whom referred to the Caley as the place to be.
"I grew up with this legend. We've been looking at this project for three years and to finally get hold of it is wonderful. I've been using fabulous Scottish produce for 38 years and will continue to do so in Edinburgh – with a new list of small, artisan producers and suppliers – to create menus that are simple and delicious and showcase the wonderful natural larder in Scotland. We already use langoustines, scallops, girolles, beef and lamb and look forward to finding more ingredients from more places.
"We are also keen to train young Scots chefs and front-of-house staff and have also recruited Nick Baxter from Aberdeen as assistant manager."
Asked if he was nervous about the competition in Edinburgh, which already has five Michelin-starred restaurants under Martin Wishart and Tom Kitchin, plus Paul Kitching's 21212, Dominic Jack's Castle Terrace and Jeff Bland's Number One, he replied: "London is already called Dodge City because of the number of top restaurants but, in my opinion, the more competition you have the better. It raises the bar in terms of the food, the service, and the price.
"Edinburgh is such a beautiful place and we're looking forward to meeting our customers, famous or not."
