Kindling a passion for food in the shadow of a craftsman
A RESTAURANT manager who worked for celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal in one of the world’s best restaurants is planning to take forward his mantra in her new role.
Thurso-born Susan Proctor has joined the team at the New Drumossie Hotel in Inverness and hopes to use some of what Blumenthal taught her at the world famous restaurant, "The Fat Duck", where she worked before managing the "Hinds Head Pub", another of Blumenthal’s properties.
"I loved it," she said. "It was quite an experience."
The former Alness Academy pupil studied a two-year hotel management course at Inverness College before starting work at the Dunkeld House Hotel in Perthshire and moving south to work at a series of luxury hotels.
Aged just 26, she was approached by an employment agency in connection with the assistant manager role at The Fat Duck, in Bray, Berkshire. Later promoted to restaurant manager, she saw the venue achieve three Michelin stars in October 2004 and win the title of "The Best Restaurant in the World" in 2005.
She described getting the job with Blumenthal, who she had never met before, as "quite overwhelming".
"It all sort of came out of the blue." she recalled. "I was quite young at the time, but I did have ambition. I couldn’t believe it when I got it. He (Blumenthal) is a lovely, amazing person.
"He is very enterprising. You could talk to him all day, every day. He is so passionate about everything — his food, his company and looking after his staff. He was brilliant to work for."
She saw the business evolve as well as Blumenthal’s "unusual" techniques.
"We were very much involved, always tasting the food," she said. "We had to know everything because guests were so interested and would ask so many questions about everything — you did need to know what was going on. As time went on the menu and techniques evolved — it was something else really, out of this world. Everybody was just gushing about the food all the time."
One of the stand-out dishes for her and guests was ice cream made with liquid nitrogen at the table. "It always got the conversation going," she said.
Her ability as a restaurant manager won her the respect of Blumenthal, who asked her and husband Andrew, who also works front of house, to manage his new business, The Hinds Head, in 2005.
"Heston wanted to buy the village pub, which was next door to The Fat Duck, but he wanted a couple to run it for him," she said. "We were so excited at this prospect and jumped at the chance. The Hinds Head opened in August 2005 with an amazing response, and it went from strength to strength. It was an amazing time, and we had such fun seeing the business build."
The couple parted company with Blumenthal to run their own pub, The Reservoir, in Cheltenham, but decided to hand the keys back to the Greeneking Brewery when the recession hit.
Now, with two children, a move closer to home made sense to Mrs Proctor, who described the experience of working with Blumenthal as priceless. Asked what she would take forward from the experience in her new role, the 37-year-old added: "His whole ethos of customer service and care and passion about the food," she said. "I work very closely with our head chef Kenny MacMillan and we are really quite excited about taking the whole service and food to another level. We are really hoping to attract more local people to The Grill Room, either for specialist occasions or just to come out for something to eat on a night."
And with a new menu launching this month, can we expect to see any Blumenthal influences?
"I don’t think we would want to replicate things," she said. "Kenny is very passionate about food and the methods he uses to produce his dishes are all made with traditional methods, he is keen to make the most of the amazing local produce, and together we will make a great team, with excellent dishes and attentive but friendly service."
