From a young age Kevin Dalgleish knew he wanted to be a chef. What he couldn’t have imagined is the culinary journey he’d embark on throughout his career.
From working with award-winning chefs, cooking for former US President Bill Clinton and appearing on TV show Great British Menu, his career has been varied.
The 51-year-old is now the owner of two AA rosette restaurant Amuse by Kevin Dalgleish in Aberdeen’s Queen’s Terrace and working towards opening another restaurant in the city with Union Street an option.
And launching soon will be Bespoke Catering by Amuse which will see Kevin and his team bring their same level of excellence to private events.
Years of dedication
It’s taken years of hard work, long hours and dedication for Kevin to achieve his dream of opening his own restaurant.
He was just 14-years-old when he started working in a restaurant in his home town of Hawick.
Kevin said: “Growing up my uncles owned bars in Edinburgh and I think it maybe planted a seed.
“When I was 14 I started working right after school and fell into it.
“My next door neighbour knew someone who was opening a restaurant and he was looking for a young guy to help him.
“I was lucky to start there.”
Unique way of job hunting
Upon leaving school Kevin did the Youth Training Scheme in cookery with day release at Borders College.
During this time he started buying The Caterer magazine, a weekly publication for those in the hospitality industry, with the hope of finding a job.
Kevin had a different approach he used when applying for jobs.
He would write to those who had “nice” logos. But his tactic paid off.
He said: “I used to buy The Caterer magazine when it was really thick and had about 200 job adverts in it.
“There was no emails or online job adverts.
“I used to look at the hotel logos and would write to those who had nice ones.
“I must have wrote to half a dozen in London, including The Ritz and The Dorchester.
“I never thought anything about it and then a week later I got an envelope through the door with The Savoy logo on it.
“I opened it up and they had asked me for an interview.”
5 star London hotel job
Kevin got the job as a commis chef and at the age of 19 found himself leaving home and moving to London.
Despite admitting to being homesick for the first couple of months he settled in and made the most of the opportunity training under Anton Edelman.
Kevin, who has been married to Kerry for 14 years said: “It was really hard work. I’d start at six in the morning and not finish until 11pm.
“They say if you work a year at The Savoy it’s actually two years because you work so much.
“It really set me up with the discipline and pressure, everything you need as a chef.
“I worked 10 different sections in the kitchen including fish and sauce and ended up getting promoted to chef de partie when I was there.”
Kevin then moved on and spent 18 months working at Anton’s Mosimann’s The Club in Belgravia again as a chef de partie.
Move back to Scotland
But it was then he decided that he wanted to go back to Scotland to be closer to his family.
He worked at a hotel in Troon before again using The Caterer magazine to apply for a job at 15th century Ackergill Tower, a castle in Wick, where he spent 12 years as a sous chef.
While there he started The Food of Love weekend. These events saw him joined by some of the country’s top culinary stars including Paul Rankin, Angela Hartnett and Anton Mosimann to co-host the private dining weekends.
He said: “It was an amazing place. It was the height of corporate entertainment when it was booming.
“It was amazing. Land Rover would take the place over for a month for its world launch.
“President Clinton came over with his entourage. He was a nice guy and Prince Charles was also a regular.
“Every week was different. It was a unique job.”
Career continued to progress
Kevin made his move to the Granite City in 2012 joining Simpsons, which then became The Chester Hotel, as executive chef.
He said: “Every position I moved in to it was a step up the ladder.
“The Chester was great and I really enjoyed it.
“But just after Covid they changed tact and had the outdoor marquees where they were serving burgers and fish and chips.
“It went that route sadly as they saw the revenue coming through.
“I had worked all my career to do really nice stuff with local produce. To be doing that I realised it wasn’t what I wanted to be doing.”
Amuse by Kevin Dalgleish a big decision
It was a short time later Kevin got the chance to open his own restaurant in Queen’s Terrace with the closure of No.1 Bar & Grill.
He invested £100,000 opening Amuse by Kevin Dalgleish in July 2022.
Kevin, dad to Robbie, 13, and 21-year-old stepdaughter Hannah, said: “I thought to myself can I do it. It was a massive undertake and I thought long and hard about it.
“Someone said to me I would regret it if I didn’t give it a go so I went for it.
“I left the Chester in the February and Amuse was born in July.
“Working in different places does gives you confidence. We had some successful years at the Chester which left people knowing the style of food I do.
“From the moment I opened it’s been busy. People know they get good quality produce.”
In January last year Amuse by Kevin Dalgleish secured entry into the prestigious Michelin Guide for Great Britain & Ireland.
It also became one of only three restaurants within the city to achieve two AA Rosettes.
Kevin, a fan of chefs Richard Corrigan and Phil Howard, currently has 22 members of staff, which includes Robbie who works as a cellar boy once a week and Hannah who works part-time.
“You’ve got to believe in yourself. If I could give anybody any advice it would be to believe.
“If you don’t then no one else will. I think us being busy from day one has given more confidence.
“It’s different pressures being your own boss. But once I’m in the kitchen I switch off and do what I do.”
Kevin has also appeared BBC’s Great British Menu TV show representing Scotland and presenting his dishes to Michelin-starred chef Tom Kerridge, restaurateur Nisha Katona and comedian Ed Gamble.
New city restaurant hopes
Looking to the future Kevin, who was the winner of the start-up business of the year at the Northern Star awards, is looking forward to the imminent launch of Bespoke Catering by Amuse.
He said: “Our mission is to bring the same level of culinary excellence and attention to detail that guests experience at Amuse directly to their events.
“We’re excited to embark on this new venture and look forward to creating memorable moments for our clients and their guests.”
Another priority is searching for a site for a new restaurant in Aberdeen.
He said: “A lot of restaurants fail but there’s nothing easy. You have to keep going and keep the staff motivated.
“It’s easy to be complacent but we’ve just got to keep driving forward and be one of the leading restaurants in the north-east.
“I don’t think Aberdeen has had a really serious restaurant for ages, if ever.
“We want to try and take that mantle and be the leading restaurant. People do look at you and recognise you.
“We are looking at a couple of sites for a new restaurant and looking at cash to facilitate that.
“This includes looking to see if there’s anything in Union Street.”
Kevin is one of four multi-award-winning north-east chefs who will get the spotlight on the main stage at this year’s Taste of Grampian event.
Running from 10am to 5pm on Saturday, June 1 at P&J Live in Dyce, each talent will be showcasing their culinary skills at different points throughout the day.