12th April 2013
February 2008: Scottish Life
After nearly 10 years of consultancy work, Craft Guild chef Ian McAndrew has made a return to the kitchen, bringing his Michelin star touch to a small country house hotel in Dumfries & Galloway in Scotland
Set on the River Nith in Sanquhar, amid the rolling hills of southwest Scotland, is Blackaddie House. Originally built in 1540, the grey stone building was formerly a vicarage to the local church but has been a hotel for the last 25 years. With nine bedrooms, three self-catering cottages and its own restaurant, not to mention abundant salmon fishing on its doorstep, it ticked all the right boxes for Ian McAndrew and his wife Jane.
“We'd been searching for somewhere for around two years, looking all over the place,” says McAndrew. “I like fishing and shooting and so finding a place with a salmon river at end of the garden was great.”
Having gained early acclaim at leading hotels such as Eastwell Manor in Ashford, Kent, where he became one of the youngest Englishmen to earn a Michelin star, McAndrew went on to further success with his own venture, Restaurant Seventy-Four in Canterbury, Kent, which was also awarded a Michelin star. In the late 1990s, he left mainstream catering to run his own culinary consultancy working on projects for a vast range of clients ranging from master chef Anton Mosimann to the NHS. But after “getting a bit itchy,” he decided he would put his extensive and varied experience to use running his own hotel.
“Consultancy was all well and good but there's not as much satisfaction in it. While you don't have the problems of running a place, you also don't always get to see the results.”
Despite his surname, McAndrew is originally from the north east of England and has moved with his wife and young son from Norfolk to Scotland. “At 55 year's of age most people start thinking about retiring, but I come up with this mad scheme.”
While he has long-term plans for gradually refurbishing the hotel, including turning the self-catering cottages into more luxurious accommodation, his first priority has been the food. “It's had an established restaurant open to the public for the last 25 years but never had any great recognition for its food. To be honest latterly it's been fairly awful. When we came here, it was all cod and chips, scampi and chips, steak and chips. There was a huge menu stretching over six pages that took all night to read and stayed static year on year.”
The first thing he did was to reduce the menu by a third. “I kept the menu descriptions the same but improved the quality of the ingredients, how they were cooked and presented.” He then made small changes such as replacing roast breast of duck with black cherries and redcurrant gravy, with roast confit leg of Barbary duck on sweet carrot with puy lentils and bacon, before finally introducing new dishes altogether.
“I was going to spend longer over the transition but got impatient and just went for it. It's probably not a good move, as it has frightened a lot of people off, but I couldn't afford to be taking £10 a head from people.
“I'm playing around with it to see what people will go for. One of the things selling really well is braised and roast belly of pork, which surprised me because this is south west Scotland, and belly of pork is not seen as the best cut of meat.”
He admits the changes have been received at times with “immense difficulty”, but he's determined to stay the course. “People were coming to Blackaddie House for a one course bar supper and that really isn't what I want to do. I knew that's what I was coming to; I understood the eating pattern in the area but, rightly or wrongly, I'm setting out to change it.”
Since he took over in September, he's increased the average spend to between £25-£27 a head, including drinks.
“There's a long way to go. The food is still evolving. I'm not doing anything too fancy on the plate, just a really great standard of good food. I'm not aiming for stars but we need to make the restaurant into a destination. There's never going to be that many people in this locality so we need to bring people in from further afield. The restaurant will help sell the rooms.”
Currently the restaurant is spread over three areas but McAndrew has plans for a reshuffle. “We've got a conservatory room that looks down towards the river, which is lovely during the day. This will become the lounge, while the current lounge will become the restaurant.” A third room will become the library, and he's also installed wireless broadband throughout and can offer conference facilities for up to 25.
The Scottish Tourist Board had previously classified the establishment as a three star small hotel, but it has recently been reclassified as a three star country house hotel.
“We're looking to create a relaxed, informal, friendly feeling about the place. The house was built in 1540 and there's lovely wood shuttering to the windows, a fabulous old fireplace, so we'll leave those features and decorate around that.”
Historically custom at the restaurant has been local, while the hotel trade was more business and travel orientated, with a few sportsmen coming for the fishing and shooting in the area. “My intention is to grow that side of things. We should get good sporting custom with fishermen from September through to November and shooters from October to January.”
A keen angler himself, McAndrew has already made “a lot of noise” in the local fishing community, and hopes to generate more interest in the area with canapé receptions and special packages. “We also have to try and draw in weekend trade and midweek leisure trade. I think the future is in the short break market – tempting people out for two or three night stays.”
He has retained most of the old staff, bringing the total to 16 part time workers, three of which are in the kitchen, which he says requires a little attention. “The kitchen was a nightmare when I got here. There were 10 fridges, mostly domestic. I've just put in a walk in coldroom and it's halved my food bill as before I was throwing so much away.”
Sourcing has been a problem, he adds. “My philosophy on food is keeping things relatively simple, fresh and local, and the only box I haven't been able to tick is the local aspect. I knew the hardest things I was going to face up here were suppliers and staffing, but suppliers even more so. We're in a bit of a void here as there are very few hotels around us so there's no reason for suppliers to come this way. They fall short by about 30 miles. I've been told: we don't deliver there, you are out of our way, or that they need a minimum £500 order. With a hotel our size we just can't do it.
“I'm sure it's there; I'm sure all I have to do is look for it, but it's early days at the moment.”
He says he has found a “fabulous producer of smoked salmon not far away,” and “a lovely cheese producer outside of Dumfries”. He sources the majority of his fruit and veg from Dumfries three times a week, while meat and fish comes from Glasgow twice a week. “Sadly any salmon caught in the river here is not meant to be sold. But I can catch it myself, so in season I hope to be able to put my own catch on the menu. I don't want to be living on the edge of the river and not be out there with a fishing rod in my hand.”
So what's it like being back in the kitchen after so long? “I'm not as patient as I used to be and it can be frustrating at times expecting people to know what I want. I have been a harder taskmaster than I ought to be but what I'm doing here is new to this place. Yet, while it's very much a return to the kitchen for me now, it's not where I want to be all the time. In the end I've done this because I want to run a hotel.”
“We'd been searching for somewhere for around two years, looking all over the place,” says McAndrew. “I like fishing and shooting and so finding a place with a salmon river at end of the garden was great.”
Having gained early acclaim at leading hotels such as Eastwell Manor in Ashford, Kent, where he became one of the youngest Englishmen to earn a Michelin star, McAndrew went on to further success with his own venture, Restaurant Seventy-Four in Canterbury, Kent, which was also awarded a Michelin star. In the late 1990s, he left mainstream catering to run his own culinary consultancy working on projects for a vast range of clients ranging from master chef Anton Mosimann to the NHS. But after “getting a bit itchy,” he decided he would put his extensive and varied experience to use running his own hotel.
“Consultancy was all well and good but there's not as much satisfaction in it. While you don't have the problems of running a place, you also don't always get to see the results.”
Despite his surname, McAndrew is originally from the north east of England and has moved with his wife and young son from Norfolk to Scotland. “At 55 year's of age most people start thinking about retiring, but I come up with this mad scheme.”
While he has long-term plans for gradually refurbishing the hotel, including turning the self-catering cottages into more luxurious accommodation, his first priority has been the food. “It's had an established restaurant open to the public for the last 25 years but never had any great recognition for its food. To be honest latterly it's been fairly awful. When we came here, it was all cod and chips, scampi and chips, steak and chips. There was a huge menu stretching over six pages that took all night to read and stayed static year on year.”
The first thing he did was to reduce the menu by a third. “I kept the menu descriptions the same but improved the quality of the ingredients, how they were cooked and presented.” He then made small changes such as replacing roast breast of duck with black cherries and redcurrant gravy, with roast confit leg of Barbary duck on sweet carrot with puy lentils and bacon, before finally introducing new dishes altogether.
“I was going to spend longer over the transition but got impatient and just went for it. It's probably not a good move, as it has frightened a lot of people off, but I couldn't afford to be taking £10 a head from people.
“I'm playing around with it to see what people will go for. One of the things selling really well is braised and roast belly of pork, which surprised me because this is south west Scotland, and belly of pork is not seen as the best cut of meat.”
He admits the changes have been received at times with “immense difficulty”, but he's determined to stay the course. “People were coming to Blackaddie House for a one course bar supper and that really isn't what I want to do. I knew that's what I was coming to; I understood the eating pattern in the area but, rightly or wrongly, I'm setting out to change it.”
Since he took over in September, he's increased the average spend to between £25-£27 a head, including drinks.
“There's a long way to go. The food is still evolving. I'm not doing anything too fancy on the plate, just a really great standard of good food. I'm not aiming for stars but we need to make the restaurant into a destination. There's never going to be that many people in this locality so we need to bring people in from further afield. The restaurant will help sell the rooms.”
Currently the restaurant is spread over three areas but McAndrew has plans for a reshuffle. “We've got a conservatory room that looks down towards the river, which is lovely during the day. This will become the lounge, while the current lounge will become the restaurant.” A third room will become the library, and he's also installed wireless broadband throughout and can offer conference facilities for up to 25.
The Scottish Tourist Board had previously classified the establishment as a three star small hotel, but it has recently been reclassified as a three star country house hotel.
“We're looking to create a relaxed, informal, friendly feeling about the place. The house was built in 1540 and there's lovely wood shuttering to the windows, a fabulous old fireplace, so we'll leave those features and decorate around that.”
Historically custom at the restaurant has been local, while the hotel trade was more business and travel orientated, with a few sportsmen coming for the fishing and shooting in the area. “My intention is to grow that side of things. We should get good sporting custom with fishermen from September through to November and shooters from October to January.”
A keen angler himself, McAndrew has already made “a lot of noise” in the local fishing community, and hopes to generate more interest in the area with canapé receptions and special packages. “We also have to try and draw in weekend trade and midweek leisure trade. I think the future is in the short break market – tempting people out for two or three night stays.”
He has retained most of the old staff, bringing the total to 16 part time workers, three of which are in the kitchen, which he says requires a little attention. “The kitchen was a nightmare when I got here. There were 10 fridges, mostly domestic. I've just put in a walk in coldroom and it's halved my food bill as before I was throwing so much away.”
Sourcing has been a problem, he adds. “My philosophy on food is keeping things relatively simple, fresh and local, and the only box I haven't been able to tick is the local aspect. I knew the hardest things I was going to face up here were suppliers and staffing, but suppliers even more so. We're in a bit of a void here as there are very few hotels around us so there's no reason for suppliers to come this way. They fall short by about 30 miles. I've been told: we don't deliver there, you are out of our way, or that they need a minimum £500 order. With a hotel our size we just can't do it.
“I'm sure it's there; I'm sure all I have to do is look for it, but it's early days at the moment.”
He says he has found a “fabulous producer of smoked salmon not far away,” and “a lovely cheese producer outside of Dumfries”. He sources the majority of his fruit and veg from Dumfries three times a week, while meat and fish comes from Glasgow twice a week. “Sadly any salmon caught in the river here is not meant to be sold. But I can catch it myself, so in season I hope to be able to put my own catch on the menu. I don't want to be living on the edge of the river and not be out there with a fishing rod in my hand.”
So what's it like being back in the kitchen after so long? “I'm not as patient as I used to be and it can be frustrating at times expecting people to know what I want. I have been a harder taskmaster than I ought to be but what I'm doing here is new to this place. Yet, while it's very much a return to the kitchen for me now, it's not where I want to be all the time. In the end I've done this because I want to run a hotel.”