][1]Paul Gunning is the chef patron at Purslane in Edinburgh’s Stockbridge. Before Paul opened Purslane in 2011, his chef’s career saw him work in London, Brittany and Australia as well as in his native Scotland.
His CV includes stints working at the Marco Pierre White River Room in Manchester; The Balmoral and Auberge du Lac under Phil Thompson.
In this Chewin’ the Fat interview, Paul discusses how he likes to give rustic dishes a polish and ponders on Edinburgh’s changing restaurant scene.
What can diners expect from a meal at Purslane?
PG: I call it casual fine dining. We want customers to come to the restaurant and feel relaxed. There’s no fussiness and the waiting staff won’t interrupt you every two minutes. We like to think that the food is very good quality and delivered at a fair price. People are usually very surprised at the quality they get for the price point.
Presentation seems very important at Purslane?
PG: Yes,we want the customer to be pleasantly surprised by something about the dish. That might be an unexpected texture or the way we present it.
A while back, we had a bouillabaisse on the menu – a classic French soup. Rather than serving it in a bowl, we plated all the different elements up. We made it using scallops, gurnard, sea bream, red mullet and langoustines, all cooked separately and using different techniques. Then we served it with saffron-flavoured, turned potatoes, aioli croquettes and little dabs of aioli on the plate. We put the actual liquor into glass teapots and then poured the bouillabaisse over the other elements on the plate.
People expect quite a rustic fish soup and then we present them with this elegant, plated dish. It gives it a real wow factor.
][3]How did you get started as a chef?
PG: My Gran on my Dad’s side was always cooking hearty meals and my Gran on my Mum’s side was into baking so it had always been there in the background.
When I was at school, I had a job in a factory to earn some money. I looked around and there were people there of all ages, from teenagers like me to people getting ready to retire. All they had ever done was work in the factory and I thought to myself I don’t want to be stuck here until I retire.
I sat down and asked myself what I enjoyed doing and figured that cooking could be the way to go. I went to college and, as part of that, I got to work in the main kitchen at Gleneagles. There were perhaps 35-40 chefs in there at that time and it was wow!
That was about sixteen years ago. There were two head chefs there and one of them was reading out the orders on the pass. When he did that the kitchen stood up and all said ‘Oui Chef’ and that was that, from then on I was hooked. It was great. What an experience.
Are there any chefs you would say were a big influence on you?
PG: My first real Head Chef was Jeff Bland at The Balmoral. He inspired me and had a big influence on me. He has a presence about him and helped instil a real work ethic.
We would be doing a function for 350 people and he would be there carving 350 portions of pork loin. He wasn’t one of these head chefs who would just stand there. He was hands-on.
I worked in one of Marco Pierre White’s restaurants in Manchester and met him twice. He had real presence. You knew when he was in the room.
I’ve heard plenty of stories from when he was making his name at Harvey’s but he was lovely when I met him. He wasn’t exploding. You wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of these guys but Marco was inspiring, level-headed even.
][4]Yes, he had a reputation for being fiery back in the day.
PG: I don’t have an ego in the kitchen. Everything I do, I like to run it past staff and regulars. If we are thinking of trying out a new dish then we’ll send it out as an amuse-bouche to regulars and see what they think.
As far as I’m concerned with the customers, if they book in, then this is their restaurant for the night. We don’t have steak and chips on the menu but if someone makes a reservation for their husband’s birthday and asks for steak and chips then we’ll get it in for them. We will make sure when they come for their meal that they have the best steak and chips in Edinburgh.
You started as a chef in 1998. What has been the biggest change on the restaurant scene since then?
PG: The quality of restaurants has improved almost beyond recognition. When I started, there wasn’t anything that gave you quality and value for money in Edinburgh.
For me, Martin Wishart was the first chef to really put a stamp on Edinburgh. There were lots of traditional restaurants but nothing that you would really want to celebrate a special occasion in. Now, there are loads. The dining scene in Edinburgh is so competitive now.
Martin opened in 1999 just as I was starting at The Balmoral. Since then Edinburgh has gained five Michelin stars starting with Martin’s.
Back in the day, you had to leave Edinburgh to train at Michelin level. Now you can learn those high level techniques and skills here in Edinburgh and at places like Andrew Fairlie in Gleneagles.
You can have anyone, alive or dead, cooking you a meal. Who is at the stove?
PG:Marie Antoine Carême. Everyone recognises Escoffier as the bigger name but when you look at what Carême did for the development of the professional kitchen…
Also Ferran Adrià at the height of his game. I’ve got one of his books with a collection of El Bulli dishes from 1998, I think it is. The way the dishes and styles evolved is fascinating. That would be pretty special.
Where do you like to eat out?
PG: I like trying a lot of new places. I rarely go back to the same place. Although I do go to Chaophraya quite often.
The sharing platter is always good and the views are impressive. If you get a sunny day and can sit out on the terrace then it’s one of the nicest places to eat in Edinburgh.
What’s the best thing about being a chef?
PG: No two weeks are the same. You could be working in a factory and repeat the same job over and over. You come into the kitchen and think ‘I’m bored with this dish. It’s going out of season. Let’s try this and play around with this.’ You get a lot of variety every day.
And the worst thing?
PG: VAT. Bars can claim back VAT on the stock of drinks they buy in but restaurants can’t do that with food.
What has been you daftest customer complaint?
PG: Quite often we serve an amuse-bouche to diners. It is not unusual for the customers to ask what it is and say they didn’t order it.
Once you explain that it’s complimentary then that helps. We got a review on TripAdvisor marking us down because we had given the customer an amuse-bouche. You give people something for free and they complain?
Although after that TripAdvisor review, I was chatting to a customer and he said that he had come in because he had read it and thought ‘If they’re giving food away then I’m booking in’. So at least the review brought a paying customer in.
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