Some might not regard it as the most appetising of city locations to go in search of fine high-end dining, but all that is changing now that celebrity chef Nick Nairn has hoisted his flag off George Street in Aberdeen.
Just a stone’s throw from the street’s eclectic mish-mash of takeaways, hairdressers, bakers and joke shops, their illustrious neighbour has set up in adjoining St Andrew Street.
Nick has opened a treasure chest of delights at his Native restaurant, within the contemporary surroundings of Hilton Garden Inn hotel. We had dined at the previous Hilton restaurant and found it a pleasant experience, but Native takes culinary matters to a new level. It is known as Native “because the food belongs here”.
And, judging by the large numbers of people eating alongside us on a recent Saturday night, there are plenty of other discerning diners beating a path to his door.
But it was Rome that was occupying our thoughts right now as we were deep in conversation with our young Italian waiter, Marco. He was giving us a fascinating update on what was happening in his home city and his take on Aberdeen’s Italian restaurants, which we had asked him about.
He looked after us for most of our visit and he proved to be a charming, efficient and knowledgeable young man, making us feel at ease straight away and speaking confidently about the dishes, which Nick has designed to showcase local produce from the north-east.
We were guided to our comfortable alcove-style table for two across a sprawling dining room. It was softly lit, which I like when dining because I feel it helps create a certain cosy ambience.
Nick has set standards high here, as we could see from the range and quality of dishes.
For starters, I could not resist Scrabster monkfish and mussels, with lentils, in a curry sauce. For my wife, hand-dived Orkney scallops, chorizo picante, peas, lettuce and toasted oatmeal.
Apart from one other couple on the opposite side of the dining room, we were all alone when we sat down at 6.30pm, but by the time we departed there were around 60 people seated, including a large birthday-party group.
Our starters touched down on our table and I have to say they were beautifully presented. Delicious chunks of monkfish mingled with the mussels, served out of their shells, and the delicately-flavoured curry sauce was impressive.
Being a scallops fan, my wife was expecting big things from her starter – especially as it weighed in with the biggest price tag of any of the starters at £13.50.
She felt a little deflated at the small serving and the dinky scallops, similar to a row of white buttons. She had expected some juicy fat scallops at that price; they were tasty, if a little underwhelming.
The star attractions, however, were the mains. As far as I can see, we still don’t have much lobster on the menu in the north-east, but Nick more than makes up for that.
My wife’s grilled Johnshaven lobster, with gremolata butter and fries, was a show stopper: beautifully dressed and presented, carefully rearranged in the two halves of its shell and covered in Nick’s special garden-pea salad.
I’d earlier read a description of dressed lobster and the writer said it was synonymous with succulence and opulence – it was certainly at home here in Native.
My wife savoured every mouthful, but not before we had taken a picture of this masterpiece. In fact, we even asked a waitress to take a picture of us admiring the masterpiece.
The flashy lobster probably outshone my Dornoch-lamb main course on looks, but when it came to substance, mine was hard to beat.
When ordering potatoes and vegetables (which are priced at £3 each, on top of the main-course price) I held off on mash because I thought the meal would be too heavy – and it proved a wise choice. I had two cuts of lamb – rump and crispy shoulder meat.
They were served in a Scotch Broth jus and accompanied by my choice of roasted carrots. The combinations were a dream. What a joy this lovely rich-tasting dish turned out to be.
Puddings also had that extra touch of class, as you would expect in a high-end establishment. Apple tarte tatin (with a 15minute delay because it was being freshly created) and “Three Chimneys” warm marmalade sponge pudding, with Drambuie custard.
This sponge pudding is a homage to a dish created at Shirley Spears’s Three Chimneys restaurant on Skye. The original has been on the menu at the Three Chimneys since the day it opened. Nick and Shirley are great pals, so he thought it was only fair and polite to give them a name check on his menu.
The wonderfully intense tastes from both of these puddings are hard to describe – you’ll just have to try them for yourselves.
Despite “scallopgate” at the start, I must mark Native by Nick Nairn as highly as I can because it was such a special-occasion experience.
I think I must be turning native.
NATIVE BY NICK NAIRN
Hilton Garden Inn hotel, 31 St Andrew Street, Aberdeen Telephone: 01224 451444
ORKNEY SCALLOPS £13.50
MONKFISH AND MUSSELS £8.50
LOBSTER £29.00
RUMP OF LAMB £17.95
CUMIN CARROTS £3.00
BREAD £3.25
APPLE TARTE TATIN £8.50
MARMALADE SPONGE £5.95
DRINKS £17.60
TOTAL £107.25
GRACE £5.00
£112.25