‘Ten years have flown by in the blink of an eye’
Five-star Dunblane hotel, Cromlix, is celebrating a big birthday. Owned by Andy Murray and Kim Sears, the destination is turning double figures. To celebrate, executive chef, Darin Campbell, has created a 10th Anniversary Menu, which will be available on June 16 only. After preprandial drinks in the Billiards Room, guests will head through to the restaurant for six courses, each with special meaning for the hotel.
The dishes, with alternative veggie options available, have been created by Campbell, who won Chef of the Year 2024 at the Scottish Excellence Awards, and has been with Cromlix since the very start.
“When you look back at all the stuff we’ve done and achieved, 10 years seems like a long time,” says Campbell, 51. “On the other hand, it’s just flown by in the blink of an eye. It’s the longest I’ve ever been anywhere. The second longest time was fiveand-a-half years at Andrew Fairlie, so it’s a testament to a place. I like to think I’ll still be here in another decade.”
We asked Campbell to talk us through each anniversary dish, below.
CANAPÉS
“This will be a celebration of the great suppliers that we’ve been lucky enough to have over the years, and some of the produce that we’ve added to our own kitchen garden. We’ve always had the same fish merchant, Willie Little, who is based in Crieff. Ochil Foods is also on our doorstep. They offer great game, and they’re a familyowned business.
“We want to celebrate them all in the canapé course. We’ve got a rough idea of what they will be, but it’ll be based on seasonality.”
GRILLED SCOTTISH ASPARAGUS, POACHED DUCK EGG, HOLLANDAISE
“Shirley and Roy Erskine [Andy’s grandparents] had their silver wedding anniversary here in 1982. It was the first function at the hotel after it was converted from being a family home. They’re such a lovely couple and are so sprightly. They still come up for lunch, Judy brings them.
“That event was part of the family’s time and journey with Cromlix and getting to know the place. We thought we’d take a couple of dishes that they had on their menu, including asparagus and Hollandaise. The asparagus will be from Denhead Farm, the eggs will be from another local supplier, and the tarragon for the Hollandaise reduction will be grown in the garden.”
PEA AND GARDEN MINT SOUP, HAND-DIVED SCALLOP
“When Kim and Andy got married here, we had the wedding breakfast in a marquee in the garden. This was one of Kim’s favourite courses. It included beautiful scallops – enormous, so we pan-fried them. The event was terrifying for me – if I get this wrong, that’s it, but it went well. There are always hitches, but they’re back of house, you never notice anything front of house. We had a lot of people working there to make sure it’d be seamless, no matter what. The speeches were really good, and ran over for half an hour or so. People were having such a great time. We had a few beads of sweat with the timings.”
ABERDEENSHIRE RACK OF LAMB, BASIL AND BUTTERBEAN PURÉE, BABY CARROTS, REDCURRANT SAUCE
“Where we are in Perthshire, it’s just renowned for the quality of the lamb. When we offer roast lamb in the restaurant, people absolutely love it. To me, one of the best smells in the world is roast lamb. I grew up on a predominantly black face sheep farm, so the smell triggers memories of childhood.”
CHEESE SOUFFLÉ TWICE-BAKED
“We couldn’t not give a nod to Albert Roux’s influence on myself and the property. The soufflé Suissesse was what he served at Le Gavroche and we had it on the menu at Cromlix for many years. We took it off because we were going independent and wanted to make a conscious move away from the traditional French dishes, but we had to bring it back for this event. It’s going to be quite a small portion because, my goodness, it’s calorific. We use Mull cheddar, an aged gruyere, and Scottish double cream for the sauce. It’s been just over two years since Albert
We couldn’t not give a nod to Albert Roux’s influence on myself and the property
died. He was one of the main reasons I wanted to come here.
“The Roux brothers were so renowned in the UK. In 2002, I was a runnerup in the Roux Scholarship, and I’m a very bad loser, so I’m still annoyed about not winning. When the chance came up to work closely with Albert, I jumped, especially as I live locally and my wife thought she might see more of me. The first year was nerve-wracking. He put me under scrutiny, but, once he knew and trusted you, it’s as if he adopted you. He was like a grandfather at the end and would phone us every Christmas Day. He had fantastic stories, and was always passionate about Scotland.”
STRAWBERRIES AND CREAM
“There’s the Wimbledon association but this was another dish that was on Shirley and Roy’s menu. It’ll also be the start of the Scottish strawberry season.
“We’re working on a twist. We’ll have a strawberry jelly, a macerated strawberry, fresh ones and a few other variations. Then it’ll be taxis all round and home for a lie down.”
1982
Andy’s grandparents held their silver anniversary