Top Scots chef leaves luxury hotel after 6 months for job he 'couldn't say no to'

Billy Boyter, former chef patron of the one Michelin Star Fife restaurant The Cellar, has resigned from his role as executive head chef at Rusacks hotel in St Andrews after six months in the job. Boyter and his family decided to sell The Cellar earlier this year after 10 years and many accolades including retaining the Michelin Star. Speaking to The Scotsman ahead of starting as executive chef at Rusacks, Boyter admitted the role would involve a lot more man management and less cooking, which he said he would miss. But he was to be working with each of the head chefs of the restaurants to create new menus and dishes, which will be added slowly. He said: "In The Cellar, it was me and two in the kitchen, and two or three out front, so it was a very small operation,” he said. “Whereas here, we’ve got three outlets – the pub, One Under, The Bridge, which is a Mediterranean inspired restaurant, and 18, which is more of a fine dining restaurant with cooking focused on the Robata Grill. It’s a lot of different things for me to get my teeth into. The reason they brought me here was to help raise the level of their food, so that's what I'm looking forward to the most.”

But now he’s left the luxury golf hotel for a job he “couldn’t say no to”, which he said he’d reveal more information about when he could and that he was ‘going a little further afield.’

The four star Rusacks first opened in the Fife town in 1887. Pic: Contributed

The news of Boyter’s move comes at the same time as Observer restaurant critic Jay Rayner wrote a less than favourable review of 18, one of the hotel’s restaurants that Boyter oversaw, saying it “smells of newly pumped testosterone.” Rayner, who said he ‘chose to review it specifically because Billy Boyter, who is a bit of a star in the Scottish restaurant world, had been appointed Exc Chef.’ Rayner was disappointed with most of the dishes he was served and commented on the other, mainly American, diners only ordering steak.

Billy Boyter is not executive head chef at Rusacks hotel anymore | Rebecca Hope Photography

He wrote: “His (Billy’s) appointment here signified culinary ambition and commitment. It just seems that the core clientele didn’t get the memo. What this lot want – and what they get – is cow. An awful lot of grilled cow.” In a further comment under his review online, Rayner added: “Given the sort of dishes he cooked at The Cellar at Anstruther I was interested in how that culinary pedigree was reflected in the more complex dishes, which wouldn't include the steaks. Over on X I was told the review was unfair to Boyter because he had left despite having only arrived in March. His Instagram bio does indeed describe him as 'formerly' the exec chef of Russacks. However the website still has him in place, which is what I checked before filing the review. I have now called the hotel. Boyter has indeed resigned, but is still there for a few more few days. These dishes were cooked on his watch. Make of that what you will.”

In response to the review, Boyter said the review was disappointing to read and that ‘18 restaurant is for the American market who like steak.’ He referred to his role not being as hands-on, saying: “He (Rayner) might have thought there could have been glimpses of what I did at The Cellar. But there it was a very, very small operation and I was hands-on with every dish that I cooked. The Rusacks is a completely different operation. As the executive chef, I was in charge of 22 chefs and I looked after the whole building. There is a head chef at each of our restaurants who I work with but I was not in the kitchen every day.”