From The Golf Course, To The Kitchin

Heading straight to the kitchen is perhaps the last place you might think of heading at the end of a fine round. Yet any golfer with a taste for the finer things in life would be well advised to bypass the 19th hole and instead head straight for The Kitchin.

Indeed, the evidence suggests that many are doing just that. For, only a few months after Michelin-starred chef-proprietor Tom Kitchin celebrated the first anniversary of the eponymous restaurant he and his wife Michaela opened and launched on a wing and prayer on Leith’s fashionable Commercial Quay, The Kitchin now boasts a full house most nights of the week, with Saturdays booked up as early as two months in advance.

The popularity of The Kitchin might have something to do with the restaurant gaining a highly acclaimed Michelin star only six months after opening, making Tom Kitchin the youngest ever Scottish Chef, at the age of 29, to be awarded one.

That coveted accolade recognised that The Kitchin’s recipe for success is founded on slavish attention to detail and an all-consuming passion both for the cuisine and the restaurant’s front of house with great emphasis placed on product knowledge and staff training. Much attention has been given to creating a carefully-chosen wine menu – a selection which has almost trebled from its original offer of around 50.

Despite its enviable position at the pinnacle of Edinburgh’s elite fine dining circuit, the ambience of the dining room and style of service is determinedly relaxed and informal – although with smart traditional flourishes intended to convey the overall quality of the offer.

In other words, contrary to what you might have thought,The Kitchin is in fact the perfect way to finish off a round of golf.

Tom Kitchin was born in Edinburgh and brought up in Kinross. After training in a local hotel and Gleneagles Hotel, he spent nearly five years working for the legendary Pierre Koffmann in the three Michelin-starred La Tante Claire in London, during which time Koffmann became both a friend and mentor.

Tom also worked and trained at the three-star Restaurant Guy Savoy in Paris, and spent two years at Alain Ducasse’s renowned three-star Louis XV restaurant in Monte Carlo. He was also Executive Chef for Sir Anthony and Lady Bamford.

Tom and his Swedish wife Michaela, who herself trained with The Savoy Group in London and worked at the super luxurious Burj Al Arab in Dubai, opened their own restaurant The Kitchin in Leith in June 2006. After only seven months, the restaurant was awarded a Michelin star in January 2007 – an exceptionally rapid recognition. At the age of 29,Tom Kitchin became the youngest ever Scottish chef to hold a Michelin star.