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Italian Seafood Dish
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Suzanne O’Connor is probably best described as the power-house behind the Edinburgh restaurateurs Carina and Victor Contini. Suzanne is executive chef of their three Edinburgh restaurants – Contini George Street, Cannonball Restaurant and Bar in the Old Town at Edinburgh Castle, and The Scottish Café and Restaurant at the Scottish National Gallery. She feeds thousands of local and international customers every day for lunch and dinner, and her seasonal menus, although different at each restaurant, always feature Scottish seafood and shellfish strongly.
For example, she gets delivery of oysters from Mull, Cumbrae and Lindisfarne six days a week. Many dishes are prepared in the rustic Italian style, in keeping with the Continis’ own culinary ethos. This modern Scots-Italian cooking gives the restaurant group a unique niche in the capital’s highly competitive restaurant scene.
Calamari fritti, pasta vongole, crab tortellini, Lobster Thermidor macaroni cheese, Mull scallops with pickled lemon, grilled lobster with Amalfi lemons and chilli, oysters in a 2000-year-old Roman sauce recipe and, of course, fish and chips, are all dishes that beautifully marry Italy and Scotland, and are “massive sellers”, says Suzanne , adding: “Scottish shellfish is getting more popular by the day.” Suzanne notes a return to serving whole fish skin-on, bone-in, to showcase its natural beauty and freshness.
“It’s a very Italian thing but it also suits the current interest in Scottish seafood,” she says. “People want to know where their fish comes from and to see it in its simplest from.”
Chef Suzanne O’Connor on Contini’s “doggy bag” scheme
Chef Suzanne O’Connor on Contini’s “doggy bag” scheme
Using up bones, heads and shells for sauces and bisques is second nature to her, and she is an active supporter of the Good to Go “doggy bag” scheme recently launched by Zero Waste Scotland (she is photographed here at the launch with Roseanna Cunningham, cabinet secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform).
Meet the Next Generation
The Belhaven Smokehouse, founded in Dunbar by David Pate almost 45 years ago, has a new lease of life now that his only son Sandy, 27, has joined the business.
As his father contemplates retirement at age 69, Sandy is taking on more of the management of the company, whose core products are fresh and hot and cold smoked trout and salmon. After four years spent learning the business on the factory floor, he has now “moved upstairs to the driver’s seat” while David reduces his hours.
“I’m an only child and there is nobody else to take on Dad’s business,” he explains. “I’m slowly but surely taking the pressure off him and will eventually become managing director.”
With him on board, the factory has been extended and improved with new equipment, and sales have increased by £300,000.
But Sandy has even bigger plans for the future.
He hopes to see turnover double in five years by developing export markets in Europe, and to expand Belhaven’s bespoke range.
Belhaven supplies Edinburgh restaurants Number One at Balmoral, the Contini group and Café St Honore, and with the appointment of new sales manager, Sandy plans further expansion to Glasgow – and Europe.
Sandy left school at 16 and attended St Boswells college, gaining an HNC in Gamekeeping and Wildlife Management. He spent eight years as a gamekeeper in the Scottish Borders before deciding to help his father.
“If I haven’t joined the business it could have disappeared altogether,” he says. “But I feel we have to offer a wider range to be able to compete in an industry that has become more cut-throat than it was when my dad started out.”
Fresh East Coast lobster, mussels, scallops and flat fish are also on offer.
What is his advice to young people looking to come into the industry?
“It’s challenging, but the rewards are there,” he says. “To eat in a restaurant and see your product being served is thrilling and makes the hard work worthwhile.
It runs in the family – Sandy will be taking over as Managing Director from his father David Pate
“It reminds you that this little place called Scotland is becoming known for its seafood both at home and abroad, and that young people like me have a big part to play in that.”
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