has had a remoteness element to it,” said Adam.
“We’re probably the most central I’ve been in a few years here. But when you pull in to the hotel, it gives the impression you are surrounded by rolling hills. You don’t see anything else but the countryside.
“Then as soon as you drive out you have that coastline. It brings that Scotland element of the heather in the moors and then the Cornish element where you look out the window and you’ve got the sea.
“Everything about it ticks a nostalgic nod I guess to somewhere I’ve worked previously.”
Asked why he has predominantly decided to work in hotels throughout his career, Adam explained: “It’s funny, when I was 20 and left Gidleigh Park, I said never another hotel. Then I end up being chucked into another hotel.
“I guess it’s just having a clear direction of where you want to go. A restaurant, they come with their own challenges, but for me, I like the multi-aspect of a hotel, where you’ve got a brasserie going on, you can have a function going on. Then you’re trying to do a tasting menu there and it’s just that chaos I guess is what I like about it.
“No day is the same, whereas the restaurant is lunch and dinner. There’s more that can go wrong in a hotel and I guess that’s what I like!”
Discussing his decision to leave the Fife Arms and move to Saltmoore, Adam said: “Scotland, on a personal level, was a difficult place to live, up in the Highlands.
“When I was looking, this was too good of an opportunity to turn down. It came around in a weird way. A veg supplier rang me and said ‘have you managed to find anything yet?’ I said no and then he put me in contact with Tommy. A couple of days later I was down here having a look at the project with Tommy.
“It wasn’t something I knew about until that moment, but I’m glad I got that phone call, because it is an amazing project. It’s going to be something quite special hopefully.”
Asked how he sees his relationship with Tommy working, Adam explained: “He’s been great. A lot of our thoughts on food, our ethos and how we approach things are very similar. It’s very collaborative.
“It’s not Tommy Banks, ‘this is how we’re doing it, this is how it has to be’. It’s very much like I’ve got my skillset, he’s got his skillset, if I need a recipe or advice, he’s at the end of the phone.
“He’s very much treating me like one of his own head chefs I guess, within his own properties. It’s been a really nice relationship, really collaborative, really nice and easy to speak with, open.
“What you see when he’s on TV is how he is in person.”
Dishes begin at £12.50 for a starter and £25 for a main course, with room rates available at Saltmoore from £290, including breakfast.
