The Bite Magazine - Autumn/Winter 2023 - Issue 34

biterestaurant Born and raised in Inverness, located on Scotland’s northeast coast, where the River Ness meets the Mo- ray Firth, the head chef is proud of the Scottish High- lands and Wester Ross in his blood. “I grew up camping and fishing on Loch Torridon with my family. I also lived and worked at The Torridon in 2016 and 2018, where I met my long-term partner working at the resort. When I saw that The Torridon was looking for a head chef, I knew it was the right time for me. This place is more than my home.” At the hotel, Alex finds inspiration everywhere around him. “Alongside traditional ingredients, I want to bring authenticity to my cooking using unusual elements, only available at The Torridon,” he said. “These include salt- water sourced from Loch Torridon, seaweed from the shores, and vinegar and oil infused with pine needles from the estate.” He revealed that 20-30 types of sea- weed and herbs are growing in the loch, and the estate is abundant with edible flowers, gorse and mushrooms. “I would like to use the local honey infused with local heather growing wild around us. It’s about creating clean, crisp food that tastes as good as it looks.” His style is based on modern British and Scottish cook- ing, with worldwide inspiration. “For example, in my new menu for 1887, I have included a tasty sweet and sour duck with a miso-glazed heather honey sauce - all sourced from the freshest ingredients and very local, but with an international ‘touch’”. Working with local ingredients is one of the reasons The Torridon is the perfect place for Alex. “We source most of our ingredients from our two-acre kitchen garden and meat from our farm,” he revealed. “I spend a lot of time working with our team onsite to ensure our menu re- flects what is growing all around us during the different seasons.” The polytunnels in the kitchen garden allow them to nurture and grow almost anything they want with the collaborative effort between the kitchen and gardening team. “Our farm has a herd of Highland cows and Tamworth pigs. We also have our own chickens and ducks,” he said proudly. “We supplement with local seafood sourced from Dolan Fisheries, fresh dairy from William- son Food Service and meat from Kenny Morrisons, in nearby Gairloch - trying to keep it as local as possible.” This sustainable practice demonstrates the field-to-fork concept at the heart of everything they do and provides an evolving menu that gives full provenance of their produce. His favourite restaurant dish at the time of writing in- cludes beef they aged for several weeks. “We cooked the ribs on the Konro Japanese BBQ, then served them with roasted asparagus, turnip confit in smoked bone marrow, a gel made from horseradish, black gar- lic purée with fresh herbs from our garden and a beef sauce. The dish was bursting with flavours.” Ingredi - ents-wise, it would be butter. “I love anything roasted in