French Budding Chefs head to West Scotland

For the 2015 Budding Chefs programme, nine French chefs-to-be have arrived in West Scotland. They will discover local food specialities including oysters, cheese, shellfish, fish and chips and farm produce before heading back to Edinburgh for school workshops and a new version of the pop-up restaurant at the Institut français d’Ecosse.

The brigade of young chefs from the Lycée Hôtelier de Dinard in Brittany will live a full-immersion Scottish food trip as part of the programme, set up in 2011 by the Institut français d’Ecosse and Chef Fred Berkmiller. While in Scotland they will get the opportunity to discover national dishes and meet some of the top professionals of the Scottish Food and Drink industry. After they have sampled the local cuisine they will be taking over the Institut français d’Écosse, where they will have a Pop-up Restaurant on the evening of Saturday 21 March. For this new version of their Pop-up, a few former Scottish Budding Chefs will join the French brigade in the kitchen to deliver a 'Retour de Mull' menu; small dishes intertwining Scottish products with French culinary traditions. Vincent Guérin, Director of the Institut français d’Ecosse said; “We have been thinking about going to the west coast of Scotland forever, and the fifth year of the programme is an excellent time to do so.

“I know the people we are going to meet will make our Budding Chefs’ eyes shine! We may be going further through Scotland but we are back to our roots in Edinburgh and I very much look forward to welcoming old and new fans of the pop-up restaurant at the Institut français.” For full details about where the chefs are going and what they will be doing see buddingchefs.net The Budding Chefs programme was initiated by the Institut français d’Ecosse and Fred Berkmiller, chef patron of L’Escargot Blanc and L’Escargot Bleu restaurants in Edinburgh, to offer budding young chefs from Scotland and France the opportunity to experience a new larder, meet the best chefs in each country and to broaden their gastronomic horizons.