We visit Edinburgh for a foodie weekend, and chat to world-renowned chef Paul Tamburrini about pairing up with Macdonald Hotels for his first solo restaurant venture. He’s previously worked as chef director at Martin Wishart’s The Honours brasserie in Edinburgh, head chef at Cameron House in Loch Lomond and was executive chef at One Devonshire Gardens in Glasgow.
Now he’s got his own restaurant, baring his name, at the Macdonald Holyrood Hotel in Edinburgh.
On his family…
My family are half Italian. They were really big on pastas and ragus and meatballs and things like that, so they cooked a lot of Italian stuff, whereas on my mum’s side, they would cook fresh stuff all the time, old-school traditional dinners – no convenience foods – all fresh, so my love of cooking has filtered down to me through each side of the family really.
On his restaurant’s food style…
We like to focus on our attention to detail. We like to buy the best produce we possibly can. The food, some of it’s technical, some of it’s more casual. It’s a mix of everything, building on the experience we’ve got. I like to focus on quality at all times. If the produce is no good, it’s going to make your job a hell of a lot harder. We’re surrounded with great suppliers and that gives you peace of mind.
On food trends…
I like to follow food trends and have a lot of cookbooks for inspiration. I think things are going more simple now. When I was at One Devonshire Gardens, the food at that time was very technical, lots of things on a plate, now you can strip it back to two or three things on a plate now because you want to express how confident you are in your cooking. More often that not I’ll have three or four elements to a dish, and the focus is on that individual product, rather than confusing things too much. I like to keep it simple and clean.
On his love of cookbooks…
I’ve got an outrageous amount of cookbooks. It’s mental. I tend to look back at Michel Bras’s books. Currently I take a lot of inspiration from Frédéric Anton. These guys, they put two or three things on a plate and cook it really well. There is a big following for the Scandinavian stuff, but my style is much more modern French.
On the menu…
I’ve got a new scallop dish on the menu at the minute with cauliflower, curry oil which is a beautiful delicate dish. It’s a bad one!
On nurturing young talent…
Our staff retention is pretty good to be honest. We try to encourage the guys to have an opinion on how we do things and what we’ve got on the menu. The industry is far more open then it has ever been.
On the highlight of his career….
I’m very proud to be in this joint venture with the Macdonald Hotel Group. For me, this has been just amazing. I work with some amazing guys and we’re getting amazing feedback and wonderful reviews.
On the restaurant’s location…
You’re a ten minutes walk to the train station, a five minute walk to Arthur’s seat and it’s pretty peaceful.
On foodie pleasures…
I love pasta when I’m at home. Meatballs, meatloaf, I cook lots of pasta in the house, way too much. That’s my go-to pleasure, that and a cheeky glass of red wine.
On dinner party guests…
I’ve always been a big fan or Robert De Niro from an acting point of view. From a chef’s point of view, Marco Pierre White, I’m sure there would be a few stories from him. Maybe some of the politicians to get their real thoughts on Brexit!
On foodie bucket lists…
The NoMad in New York – I’d love to go there. I’ve been to Eleven Madison Park which is brilliant. You are spoiled for choice in London. I’d quite like to try Dinner by Heston by Heston Blumenthal.
READ MORE: Our full food review of Paul Tamburrini, Edinburgh
