Iain Nicholson named head chef at the Machrie hotel

22 September 2021 by
Iain Nicholson named head chef at the Machrie hotel

Iain Nicholson has been appointed head chef at 18 Restaurant and Bar at the Machrie hotel on Scotland's Inner Hebrides.

Scottish-born Nicholson honed his skills as sous chef at Albert Roux's Scottish and London restaurants, including two-Michelin-starred Le Gavroche, and gained experience in the US and France.

He was working as head chef at the Vie Montagne restaurant in Verbier, Switzerland, when the pandemic hit, after which he returned to Scotland and retrained as a tree surgeon. Nicholson is an experienced forager and runs Nobadfoodlab.org, a website designed to educate about Scotland's natural larder and as a forum for him to develop and share new dishes.

At the Machrie, Nicholson's menu will use almost exclusively Scottish ingredients sourced from farmers, fisherman and crofters within a few miles of the hotel. He will also make the most of the island's seafood and game with dishes designed to be as sustainable as possible.

Nicholson said: "The pandemic provided me with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to try something new, but I am delighted to be back in the kitchen to start my new journey with the Machrie. Cooking, and the creativity that comes with it, will always be my life's passion and I have exciting plans in the pipeline.

"My aim is to put the Machrie on the food map, providing diners with an exclusively Scottish experience as possible. I want guests to be able to close their eyes, taste my food and know exactly where they are, and I look forward to achieving this as the Machrie."

The Machrie is operated by Campbell Gray Hotels.

The Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email

Start the working day with The Caterer’s free breakfast briefing email

Sign Up and manage your preferences below

Check mark icon
Thank you

You have successfully signed up for the Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email and will hear from us soon!

Jacobs Media Group is honoured to be the recipient of the 2020 Queen's Award for Enterprise.

The highest official awards for UK businesses since being established by royal warrant in 1965. Read more.

close

Ad Blocker detected

We have noticed you are using an adblocker and – although we support freedom of choice – we would like to ask you to enable ads on our site. They are an important revenue source which supports free access of our website's content, especially during the COVID-19 crisis.

trade tracker pixel tracking