Fife chef Sam sets sights on awards at Adamson Hotel

Sam Nellies has been appointed the first Executive Chef of the City Hotel Group and is already working on bringing the Adamson Hotel up to rosette food standard.

Following on from investment into the Crossford venue in recent times, he wants to bring his experience gained over the years to improve the culinary offering in West Fife.

After starting out as a kitchen porter at the age of 14 at Garvock House Hotel, he rose through the ranks to senior sous chef over a 12 year period before heading to Perth to work at Uisge restaurant for nearly four years where he led the team to best family restaurant and best new restaurant titles.

Sam Nellies who has returned to West Fife to take up the position of executive chef at the City Hotel Group. (Image: Contributed)

He then opened up the Queens House restaurant in Bridge of Allan before setting up the Forager restaurant in Dollar. Leaving there just before they won a rosette, he moved to the Ardgowan Hotel in St Andrews which also won a prestigious rosette within four months of his arrival.

"Everywhere I have worked, I will bring in stuff from each of these venues," Sam told the Press. "I have a good background from what I have learned to do.

"For me, I feel it will be a good recipe of success but we have got to get the fundamentals right. That starts by making sure we are giving the customers what they are looking for.

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"The mindset has to be 'we are going to have a meal tonight, whether family, friends, couples, dates, occasions, we want them to say let's go to a restaurant in Dunfermline, let's go to the Adamson Hotel.

"We want to focus on that. Especially in the quieter months when the tourism has gone. I am in the restaurant every day. I speak to customers and get feedback, good or bad. I have got to know what they want or expect."

A dish created by new Adamson hotel executive chef Sam Nellies. (Image: Contributed)

With substantial investment having gone into redeveloping the hotel, Sam is keen to ensure the premises is able to boast a quality restaurant to match.

"They have stripped it all back to the bare walls and made it something spectacular," he said. 

"The food was ok but needed to match the setting of the restaurant and that is where they wanted me to come into this picture and bring my vast experiences from all the places I have worked in the last 17-18 years as a chef.

"We have now completely changed the whole ethos. From the bedrooms to the restaurant.

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'"The ethos is 'local is king'. The hospitality is a struggling industry. We need to promote a lot of local suppliers. I am working with some beekeepers, people in farms. Locally sourced lamb, beef. I have brought in lots of local suppliers who are local to the central belt of Scotland rather than looking far and wide.

"There is not a great deal of internationally travelled items in this kitchen. It is all sourced in Scotland. That is massively key for us."

Sam said they are laying foundations to improve their business model and become more sustainable.

A dish created by new Adamson hotel executive chef Sam Nellies. (Image: Contributed)

"I don't use salmon, for instance, because it is farmed and it is not as sustainable as some of the fish out there," he explained. "We are trying to cut wastage to practically zero. We are trying to use everything, If buying in specific meat, we will use all the trimmings to make sauces. It all gets used to make something.

"We are making our own compost to eventually grow our own vegetables. If we have got a market garden with vegetables and herbs, then that is saving for the hotel and it is a bit more personal. We can go to the garden and pick what we need and develop menus around the season."

With the current menu ranging from steak and ale and beer battered haddock to Wild Scottish venison and Bavette steak, Ben and his kitchen team – which is made up of Chris McNeill, John Ritchie, Calvin Williams, Davide Bese – are hoping there's something for everyone.

"We are trying to go fine dining without the pretentiousness," he said. "There are menu items that are a bit more refined for people that want to pay that little bit more.

A dish created by new Adamson hotel executive chef Sam Nellies. (Image: Contributed)

"We are using wild venison - no two animals are the same so it is a hit or a miss of what size the venison can come in. Because it is wild, you don't have a say so you are trying to bring that kind of thing that Dunfermline lacks.

"It has got to be good quality food at a fair price. We are a business but it is not about trying to fleece customers to come out and spend their money.

"People work hard and everyone is struggling these days with that so we have got to cater for everyone, so everyone has a chance to come and eat here.

"I want us to become the best restaurant in Fife. There is not a rosette in Dunfermline that is for British food. We have got an Indian one but that is a speciality cuisine.

"I would want to win awards."