by Neil Rae
Its been over 9 months now since coming to Raemoir and I am struggling to recall everything that has happened (and hasn’t happened for that matter) in what seems a very short time! I had ideas about writing a few notes on a Blog every couple of days, if for no other reason than to have a diary to look back on, but as it seems with everything at the moment it is just one more job that hasn’t quite reached the top of the priority list.
The list itself is a source of constant bewilderment and reminds me of a music Top 40 where the top 3 changes weekly and an occasional new number one appears right out of the blue. At Raemoir the top 3 seem to change daily with ‘out of the blue’ entries happening with regular monotony!
What doesn’t change is the continuity of the quality of the food that the kitchen offers and this is what this news item is really about. We have over the years, starting at The Milton, developed an excellent brigade under the guidance of David Littlewood and it was important for us to continue this at Raemoir. David is a past Grampian Chef of the Year, as his right hand man, John Chomba both of whom achieved these titles when at the Milton and both of whom are Masterchefs of Great Britain. Sous Chef Alex Hay also tried her hand at the competition when she was at the Milton and having won the Junior section two years ago, came a creditable third in the Seniors last year. This was clearly not enough for her though and, following the footsteps of her peers, she came to Raemoir, entered the competition and won it last month, and up against some stiff competition.
I hadn’t really thought about it but it suddenly dawned on me on the night that we now have 3 Grampian Chefs of the Year in the kitchen, a first for Raemoir and for Grampian. The future looks exciting as well with some of the developments that the brigade are proposing so watch this space for more news but for now the moment belongs to Alex Hay, Sous Chef at Raemoir House Hotel and Grampian’s Senior Chef of the Year 2011.
