The Kailyard by Nick Nairn will open later this month with a menu featuring his “greatest hits” signature dishes among his other culinary classics.
Although he will not be doing the hands-on cooking, Nairn, who turns 51 today, will act as consultant for the hotel’s food and beverage menus, and will have a presence in the 220-cover restaurant once a week. He will also oversee catering for events in the 400-cover banqueting suite.
Nairn, who in 1991 became the youngest chef in Scotland to gain a Michelin star and who now runs a cook school at his home in Port of Menteith, was approached 10 months ago by the Hilton group, which runs Dunblane Hydro on behalf of the Ability Group.
Ability’s chief executive is Andreas Panayiotou, the millionaire former boxer from the east end of London who has invested £12 million in the refurbishment of the tired Victorian hotel and spa to help it compete with nearby Gleneagles.
The kitchen has been given a complete overhaul, with a new ventilation system, pot wash, service benches and state-of-the-art equipment.
It has taken eight months of hard work to get the menu just right, but Nairn feels it is ready to be formally launched on January 28.
“The size of Dunblane Hydro means you can’t just turn the cooker on and hit the ground running,” he said.
“There has been a lot of late nights involved in putting this all together, but I’ve been approached by several other companies in the past to open restaurants and none grabbed my interest in the way this did.
“I believe this great old hotel deserves a fantastic dining option to match, and I’m delighted to be working here.”
Nairn has overseen the sourcing of new food suppliers and the appointment of a new head chef, Colin Halliday, who spent eight years at the Gleneagles Hotel, headed up the now-defunct outside catering company Nairn’s Anywhere and was head chef at the RBS headquarters in Edinburgh.
He and Nairn have been involved in the complete overhaul of the kitchen, the writing of a training manual and the recruitment of new young chefs, including two from the Michelin-starred restaurants The Kitchin and Martin Wishart in Leith.
But although the plush new dining room now boasts designer lights, leather chairs and contemporary colours, it is the food that Nairn hopes will cause a real stir.
“The menu will feature my own ‘greatest hits’ repertoire, built up over 25 years of cooking,” he said.
“It will feature classics such as my brown shrimp cocktail, Nick’s fish pie, and my chargrilled burger using rump steak and minced kidney fat. It will also, of course, feature buttered kale.”
The name The Kailyard -- derived from the old Scots term for a small vegetable garden -- is one that Nairn and his brother, Topher, identified 11 years ago, when they first had the idea of opening a Scottish brasserie in Glasgow’s west end.
Although the idea never got off the ground, they retained the name.
“The Kailyard will celebrate the best of Scottish produce, but not in an overly pretentious way,” Nairn said.
“I want it to be soulful and special, with a distinctive Scottish character, but with a slick and contemporary feel.
“Thankfully, the swirly carpets and the faint smell of cabbage at the old Dunblane Hydro have gone forever. Now you can really smell the coffee.”
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