Tasting Our Best in Aberdeenshire

Two Aberdeenshire restaurants which source and feature local produce within their menus are celebrating after receiving a Taste Our Best Food and Drink Scheme award.

Hornblowers Restaurant & Takeaway in Gourdon and the Falls of Feugh Restaurant & Function Suite in Banchory have both recently been awarded the accreditation.

Taste Our Best is a joint initiative between VisitScotland and the Scottish Government. Launched in 2013, the scheme is designed to recognise businesses including hotels, restaurants, cafes, takeaways, visitor attractions and B&Bs that not only offer a quality food and drink experience, but include and promote Scottish produce on their menus, to give consumers choice.

Results from the 2011/12 Scotland Visitor Survey highlighted that the sampling of local produce is the second highest activity undertaken by visitors when they come to Scotland.

Hospitality is at the heart of the family-run Falls of Feugh Restaurant & Function Suite, in Banchory. Award-winning chef John Chomba showcases the best of modern British cuisine, and prides himself on providing great food and service in outstanding surroundings. His approach of using only the best local and seasonal ingredients combined with innovative methods and techniques results in dishes that showcase Scottish produce at its finest.

The restaurant sources its meat and poultry from Yorkes of Dundee and HM Sheridan in Ballater, dairy produce from Graham’s Dairy in Bridge of Allan, fish and seafood from Blue Flag in Aberdeen and berries from Barra Berries in Inverurie and Castleton Farm at Laurencekirk.

Chef patron, John Chomba, from Falls of Feugh Restaurant & Function Suite, said:
“The award from VisitScotland is a fantastic achievement for us and reflects the hard work we have put in since taking over the business eight months ago. To have received such a good grading from VisitScotland on both our menu and our service is great recognition and we are all thrilled.”

Hornblowers restaurant and takeaway is situated beside a picturesque 19th century harbour, and specialises in locally-sourced seasonal food, with an emphasis on seafood – the menu is decided upon by the day’s catch.
 
The fish arrives daily from Gourdon and Peterhead fishermen and almost all other ingredients are sourced from the area or from around Scotland – herbs are even grown in old tattie boxes beside the restaurant and used daily.
 
Other Scottish ingredients include potatoes sourced from a potato merchant in Aberdeen, smoked haddock and salmon which are both produced in a Gourdon-based smokehouse, fresh meat bought from The Store at Foveran, ice cream from award-winning Aberdeenshire firm Mackies and salt for the chips is provided by the Hebridean Sea Salt company.
 
Hornblowers, which is owned by husband and wife team Alex and Ruth Grahame, is based in Gourdon, one of the last working small fishing villages in Scotland.
 
Alex said:
“We’re very happy to have achieved the Taste Our Best rating from VisitScotland, as it shows how serious we take sourcing quality ingredients from our area - we have some of the country’s best produce on our doorstep.
 
“Our aim is to be 100% sourced from Scotland for all our fish and meat by the end of the year and we are currently at 95%. Our prime focus is to bring the best of local and Scottish produce from the sea and field to the table and we decide on the fish part of the menu from the day’s catch, so for VisitScotland to recognise our efforts is fantastic.
 
“We’re always striving towards getting the best and most fresh local ingredients so we can then cook them in a modern and simple way and serve them to our customers so they can experience Scotland’s larder for themselves, along with of course our amazing view of the harbour and the sea.”

Philip Smith, VisitScotland Regional Director, said:
“I would like to congratulate both restaurants on receiving this award, but it comes as no surprise, as the scope of locally-sourced food featured on their respective menus really is commendable.

“We know that visitors love authentic, quality Scottish food and drink and Taste Our Best is all about taking this knowledge to the next level and really encouraging the tourism industry and businesses to recognise the real benefits of sourcing, using and promoting local and Scottish produce. We have such a rich natural larder here in Aberdeenshire, with some of the best products in the world right on our doorstep. 

“2015 is the Year of Scotland’s Food and Drink and we hope that all the visitors to our shores this year who are experiencing the range of truly global events across the country will also get to taste the best of Scotland.”

Funded by the Scottish Government (£450K over three years) and VisitScotland (£470K in kind) with support from Scotland Food and Drink, the Taste Our Best initiative brings together the tourism and food and drink industries. 

Research has shown that visitors are willing to pay up to 15% more for food that is of Scottish or regional origin and businesses that provide local food can typically enjoy higher level sales of up to 20% per year. Visitors currently spend around £800 million per year on food and drink in Scotland and more than 70% of potential visitors to Scotland want to taste traditional dishes, regional specialities and fresh local produce.

The Taste Our Best scheme is the latest addition to VisitScotland’s Quality Assurance (QA) Schemes, which aim to drive up quality in tourism products across the country. Taste Our Best will provide businesses with an assessment of their food provision and their menu by qualified assessors, with those meeting the necessary criteria gaining the award.

For accommodation providers and visitor attractions, the assessment will take place at the same time as the main VisitScotland Quality Assurance grading, meaning that many tourism businesses that already participate in the QA Scheme will no longer have to apply and pay for a separate food and drink assessment.

Taste Our Best replaced the EatScotland food and drink QA scheme, which is being phased out.

Further details on Taste Our Best can be found at: www.visitscotland.org/quality-foodanddrink.aspx

Caption: Pictured is Alex Grahame at Gourdon Harbour, yards away from Hornblowers Restaurant & Takeaway.