Good food shouldn’t cost the earth...!

Tracey Findlay started off her career as a commis chef with Thistle Hotels and quickly moved up the ranks to be the co-owner and Executive Chef at the Mains of Scotstown Inn & Parkway Inn. Tracey has now owned the Mains for the last 5 years with Co-owner/Managing Director Martin Young. She has taken the plunge and decided to go back to the basics.

We have taken the leap to produce our own fresh home cooked chips straight from the earth every day. There isn’t many restaurants these days that make their own homemade chips, and when your peeling 3 bags of tatties a day I can tell you why...! We all love to eat them, but few of us know how to make them properly. Yet the skills to transform an everyday fast-food in to a truly transcendent treat is well worth the effort. Tracey tells us of her new push for real homemade chips...!

'If the right potato is fried with care,

the result is a gastronomic experience'

Like most restaurants and pubs we have always used a good quality chilled chip bought in from a reputable supplier. But when we were putting together our new menus we wanted to look at what could make us different from the rest, we used Scotch beef, all our fruit and veg is from around Aberdeenshire or Scotland. So we looked back at all our menus and took a look at what was our best sellers in both our restaurants and low and behold it was the good old chip. Is any food more tempting than the fried potato chip? As anyone who orders a portion in a restaurant knows, people are ruthless about about the old frie. Yet there are few culinary foods that vary so much in quality. The items that constitute 50 per cent of Britain's national dish are likely to be greasy, soggy, and limp or tough. Generally, we chomp away regardless, but this ubiquitous body fuel can also be one of the finest foods known to man. If the right kind of potato is fried with sufficient care, the result is a transporting gastronomic experience.

We have changed our menus completely, nearly all of our food is homemade even our burgers and when they are served with homemade chips, wowww... Ace! It took us a while to find the right potato but we found it, now the challenge is on as when stocks drop we will have to find a tasty tattie that fits the job of becoming a great chip. If anyone fancies a job I am now looking for someone to peel 30 sacks of tatties a week???

We are always delighted to hear feedback and reviews for our premises, food and service. We take all sugestions on board and any menu ideas you have..! Just click the feedback botton and send us an email.