Newly appointed as Head Chef at Edinburgh’s Hotel du Vin, Gavin Lindsay discusses his kitchen career, Marco Pierre White and why his partner’s roast chicken is the best meal ever.
Hotel du Vin have just launched their new spring a la carte menu and, if you book through 5pm, you can enjoy a 25% discount on both food and drinks.
How did you get started in the catering business?
GL: A couple of friends were chefs so I had an idea of what it was about. I started off as a kitchen porter at The Balmoral and moved on from there. I saw what some of the chefs were doing, thought that I could the same and just took it from there.
I started cooking at Harvey Nichols with Stuart Muir in 2002 when it first opened. After that I went to Rogue with David Ramsden and then I started at Malmaison Leith in 2003 as a commis chef. I spent six years there working my way up and then Matt Powell (former Head Chef at Hotel du Vin) asked me to come to Hotel du Vin as a senior chef de partie.
Hotel du Vin have just launched their new spring menu. What is selling well?
GL: Over the last month, French onion soup has done really well, It’s not necessarily a spring dish but it’s a lighter style of French onion soup and that’s been flying out the door. The dressed crab is doing well too. We’re also doing a goat’s cheese and beetroot salad with heritage beetroot. It’s a mix of candied beetroot, golden beetroot and red beetroot, it looks great.
For the main courses, the burgers are the best seller and then it’s the fillet steak followed by the salmon salad Nicoise.
It’s bistro style food, freshly cooked and in big portions. It’s good value for money.
][4]What do you like to eat on a night off?
GL: If I get a night off then it will be something simple: a pizza, garlic bread, a fresh salad. On Sundays, we always have a Sunday roast. My missus, Gillz, always does a chicken or a nice cut of beef. So we’ll have a family roast at the table with our wee man Dylan and then use all the leftovers during the next couple of days. Gillz does a fantastic roast chicken.
Sometimes Dylan’s gran will do lasagne and that’s brilliant as well. To be honest, it’s all basic stuff in the house. I spend so much time cooking nice things for people that I just want something basic, simple and tasty – nothing too fancy.
Are there any restaurants that you like?
GL: There’s a place in Leith that I really like. It’s called Tapa and it’s fantastic. I really enjoy eating there with the Missus. We only get out once or twice a month so we always go there. It’s never disappointed me. Also, I’ve never had a bad meal at the Mussel Inn on Rose Street
What’s the best thing about being a chef?
GL: It’s pretty hectic sometimes but you get a good thrill from that. If you put in a good service and all the customers are happy then you walk out a happy man.
Feedback is key. Seeing people enjoy your food gives you a buzz. It might have been a really hard service but if all the customers are smiling at the end then it’s very satisfying.
Also seeing all the guys around you performing because you have trained them and moulded them to be like that – that’s rewarding.
Cheffing is also one of the few trades where you work with so many people from so many different backgrounds. You can get people from everywhere with all sorts of different backgrounds and you become very close to the people you work with. Of course, you fall out on numerous occasions but you always shake hands at the end of the shift.
And the worst thing about being a chef?
The hours. In kitchen slang, it’s AFD which you probably can’t print but it’s easy to work out what it might stand for. You sometimes don’t get time to feed yourself. Obviously that seems strange when you are surrounded by all this food. What happens is that you concentrate so much on the service that you just forget to feed yourself.
][6]Which chef has inspired you?
Marco Pierre White is up there although less so now that he is plugging his stock cubes. He was one of my favourite ones along with people like the Roux brothers, Pierre Kaufmann, Raymond Blanc. I liked the classic style of the last three but Marco was a bit more edgy.
I would also mention all the head chefs that I have worked for; I’ve taken a lot of different things from all of them. Matt Powell taught me a lot. Yannick Grospellier, who was my first head chef down at Malmaison, taught me all my basic French cookery.
Is it true that you’re the only Hearts fan in Leith?
GL: I’ve always stayed in Leith but I’m a Jambo. I spend a lot of time wearing a very thick, woolly jumper, especially after last week. I’ve always been a Hearts fan but my wee man Dylan is very interested in Hibs. The stadium is at the back of the house and he’s getting interested in what goes on there so I might have to take him along to a few games.
Tell us your daftest customer complaint?
GL: I sent out this fantastic beer battered fish and chips. It was a lovely piece of fish, nicely cooked, crisp batter, chunky chips and all finished with a sprinkling of Maldon salt. The customer sent it back because he was convinced that the flakes of Maldon salt were glass. I ended up sending him out another one without the salt.
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