Five food businesses in the East Neuk of Fife were brought together on national TV by The Hairy Bikers as part of their new series.
Producers across the region were visited by the celebrity chef duo on Friday night’s episode of The Hairy Bikers Go Local.
Si King and Dave Myers have travelled the UK on their electric motorbikes and are on a mission to bring together the best local restaurants with local producers.
In episode four, the celebrity chefs wanted to pair popular pop-up seasonal restaurant, The Harbour Cafe in Elie run by Amy and Jack Elles, with various other local food and drink businesses.
The first stop on their hunt for quality ingredients took The Bikers to the award-winning family-run fish smokers, East Neuk Kilnhouse in St Monans, who specialise in artisan hot and cold Scottish smoked salmon.
They also paid a visit to Finlay Hay at Hays Farm to try honeyberries in Easter Rhynd, Sophie Cumber from Butchery at Bowhouse Butchery in St Monans and Peter Holroyd of Kingsbarns Distillery near St Andrews treated them to a few drams.
Meeting The Bikers
Colin Reekie, owner of East Neuk Kilnhouse recalls his first encounter with The Hairy Bikers while filming.
He said: “It was the East Neuk Salt team who asked if we were getting involved initially, then we were approached by the show’s production team and my daughter Debbie set it all up.
“They were in the door and it was bam, away we go. We knew they were coming but they were running late and then they just wondered in. They were really nice guys and put everyone at ease.
“There was a few of us in working. I don’t think they’ve ever tried our products before.”
Putting smoked salmon to the taste test
One thing Colin is most proud of is managing to convince at least one of The Bikers that his hot smoked salmon is some of the best.
Lovers of cold smoked salmon, Colin set out to show off just how good his products are, and did so to great avail.
“I got them to try our award-winning hot smoked salmon, which is one of my flagship products.
“They both said they preferred cold smoked salmon so I made them some of our hot smoked salmon. Later on after he’d tasted the products, off camera, Si said ‘Colin, this is the best hot smoked salmon I’ve ever eaten in my life’. It wasn’t on camera, but that’s what he said to me.”
The celebrity duo were also keen to get their hands on some of the fish and got the chance to learn how to slice it thanks to the firm’s manager Billy Morrice.
“Billy hand slices everything, minus when we’re really busy at Christmas time, so he showed Dave and Si how to do it,” said Colin.
“The two of them had great fun and did what they could do. They made a bit of an a*** of it, but it was great fun.”
Cooking up a storm
On their trip to The Harbour Cafe Si and Dave were treated to The Harbour Cafe’s fish soup made from fresh fish, mussels, clams, squid, langoustine and other delicacies by Amy and Jack.
Amy also cooked up some lobster in her charcoal oven which was served with a potato salad and a beef dish.
However, they repaid the favour by cooking the owners three dishes made with the produce they’d found on their travels.
They served a smoked salmon kedgeree, beef olives made from topside with a honeyberry sauce and a cranachan rice pudding.
Amy Elles wrote on her Instagram page: “I had the best time filming with these two absolute legends Dave and Kingy. A week’s worth of filming and they were just the same when the camera was rolling or not!”
She is no stranger to production crews having appeared on the Great British Menu TV show twice in 2020 and 2021.
The next four episodes will see the Bikers head to Norfolk, Bradford, West Wales and Hexham. They have already visited South Wales, Glasgow and Cotswolds.
To watch the show, visit the BBC iPlayer here.
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