'We’ve taken the water to London': Head chef of ‘world’s best restaurant’ on favourite Scottish produce
As the UK and Ireland’s best chefs descended on Scotland, Rosalind Erskine spoke to some of them, including the head chef at the ‘world’s best restaurant’, about their thoughts on Scottish produce
In Scotland, we are pretty aware that our water is very good. But, for one award-winning chef, it was so good that he bought it for his Michelin Star restaurant in London.
Chef Mauro Colagreco, who has many restaurants including the three Michelin star restaurant Mirazur in France and the new one star Mauro Colagreco at Raffles London at The OWO, is no stranger to the finest producers and products, and some of his favourites are from Scotland.
I met Mr Colagreco in Glasgow ahead of this month’s 2025 UK and Ireland Michelin ceremony at Hotel du vin at One Devonshire Gardens - the home of many great Scottish chefs. He was taking the time in Scotland to visit some of his suppliers, which include Keltic Seafood, as well as to do a foodie tour and visit farms and potential future suppliers such as the Isle of Mull dairy and distillery.
Scottish seafood, he said, is amazing, as is the country’s meat.
“I love the textures and the flavours of Scottish seafood,” he said. But it was a dinner at Timberyard in Edinburgh that introduced Mr Colagreco to the renowned Scottish water.
“ We had a fantastic meal and I remember they served us water, [Machair] Scottish water - the best water ever,” he said. “I asked my manager to get the contact from the restaurant so we could serve it at the Raffles because I didn't want to fly water from Italy or from France. I tried this water and it was extremely good.”
As well as water and seafood, Mr Colagreco also loves vegetables from Scotland and gets foraged Scottish mushrooms from produce supplier Wild Room. He said: “ I work with, of course, seafood, but as well, vegetables, a lot of vegetables. The vegetables are super tasty because in some countries I travel a lot and in some countries the taste and flavours of the vegetables are lost. But here they are so flavourful.”
While Mr Colagreco was bowled over Scottish water, John Williams, executive chef of the newly awarded two Michelin star restaurant in the Ritz hotel, absolutely loves Scottish langoustines. He reflected on a memory of eating them with his father, who was a fisherman - a memory the chef has turned into a fish at the Ritz.
“Anyone that knows me knows that my favourite ingredient is langoustines,” he said. “You’ll be glad to hear this, but six days a week I get my langoustines from the north west of Scotland.
“My love of langoustines comes from my dad. I must have been about eight and he came home - he was a fisherman - and he used to get a fillet of smoked haddock, a little kipper, maybe a piece of cod. But the magic little bag that he had [had in it] a langoustine claw. Because - remember this, people of my age - the tails used to be processed for scampi. Now what do we have? The most beautiful ingredients that we are able to utilise.
“But do you know how hard it is to get the meat from the langoustine claw? You have to cook it for about ten, 15 seconds, then remove it with tweezers. But that claw meat means so much to me and my history and my dad and I want the customers to feel that and taste it.
“It’s about really believing that piece of product is so much sweeter, and how it elevates the dish. I’ve been cooking for over 35 years and that dish hasn’t changed much. It has been lightened, but it’s fundamentally the same.”
Mr Williams drew on his years of experience and love of quality produce, including Scottish seafood, to turn the restaurant around. He said being awarded two Michelin stars after feeling “forgotten” was absolutely amazing.
Closer to home, chef Lorna McNee of the one Michelin star Cail Bruich in Glasgow is a vocal champion of Scottish produce and uses local suppliers in her dishes. She said there was a lot of brilliant produce in Scotland and a lot of small farms that businesses should be supporting.
“We’ve got a really good lamb supplier, Kirkwood Farms, and we should support the local businesses around us, as the more that we do that, the more local businesses will open up around us as well, and continue to be that more artisan kind of company within Scotland,” she said. “We try to use the best produce we can from around Scotland.
“We taste lots of things, we get in lots of things and make sure that the quality of it is at the top.
“As John Williams said, Scottish produce is some of the best in the world, especially our seafood. So making sure that we're sustainable in everything that we get in and everything that we source around us and using every part of that is really important to us.
“Another thing is if other chefs come in and dine, then they might taste it. They might be from England or from Scotland and they say ‘that is the best lamb I've ever had or the best venison’. And they then start using that.
“So for us to thank our suppliers for how much work they put into what we have on our menu, it's great for us to celebrate that on the menu and say ‘yeah, we're using Orkney scallops or langoustines from the Isle of Skye’. I think that's really important to celebrate where we get our products from.”
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