A popular Dundee restaurant has been taken over by the chef who helped to put it on the map in the beginning.
Adam Newth, of the Tayberry in Broughty Ferry, and fellow chef Lewis Donegan have taken over Castlehill Restaurant in Dundee’s Exchange Street.
Mr Newth was Castlehill’s original chef but left to open the Tayberry in 2015.
Castlehill has been closed for a week while the kitchen is refitted but is due to re-open on Friday.
Mr Newth said he was thrilled to be returning for second helpings at the restaurant where he began his culinary career in Dundee.
“The opportunity came to takeover Castlehill and we decided to take the bull by the horns,” he said.
“We are also opening the Dundee Cooking Academy in March or early April and have premises in Bank Street where we are looking to create an informal dining room for the best Scottish seafood and meat, a sort of post surf and turf.”
Mr Newth praised the cooking of outgoing Castlehill head chef Graham Campbell, who was the youngest ever Scot to be awarded a Michelin star, but said he would be changing the menu to reflect his own preferences.
He said: “It was a nice feeling to walk back in those doors.
“The food concept is going back to what it was when I was there although I was just employed at that point, I wasn’t anything to do with the stakeholding.”
Castlehill operator Paul McMillan and Mr Campbell, who starred in the Netflix cooking show The Final Table, have now left the business.
Mr Campbell posted on social media: “Moving on… Myself and Paul McMillan are no longer anything to do with Castlehill Restaurant.
“We would like to thank all our customers for their support over the past four years.”
Mr Newth and Mr Donegan intend to keep both restaurants open and will supervise the operation of both kitchens, and those of the Dundee Cooking Academy and the Bank Street restaurants when they open.
A new head chef will be appointed for the Tayberry while Rory McCrimmon will take up the role of head chef at Castlehill in February.
Mr Newth, whose daughter was born 12 week ago, added: “There’s no such thing as a day 0ff – it’s all systems go.”
