The Buccleuch Arms: The hotel that adapts their menu daily

We headed down south to the Borders last month to talk to owner Billy at the Buccleuch Arms Hotel. We discussed their seasonal menu and how they adapt their menu daily.

Can you tell us a little bit about the hotel?

It was built in 1836 by the 5th Duke of Buccleuch as just a bit of a hunting lodge for his pals basically. So, although it might look like a roadside coaching inn, it actually wasn’t designed for that.

Does your menu change through the seasons? Yes, for us in season food is super important. The things that are in season are generally the best. Like now is the best time to eat Scottish fruit, you don’t get better berries than that. People still want to buy strawberries in December but yet they are from the other side of the world, and they taste rubbish because they are not in season.

How often do you change your menu? We physically print the menu every day. We are tweaking it all the time. It might just be one or two things that change, or just the puddings. Most of the puddings are homemade but I always have a couple as back up in the freezer. One is from JB, the chocolate and orange tart, so we always have something for vegan and gluten free. We change the menu so often because it gives us flexibility to use up different things, and otherwise you get bored. For example, there are some mussels left from the weekend and some steaks. We will be doing a burger because we made some mini beef and haggis sausage rolls for a wedding at the weekend, so that is going on as a burger.

How did you get into food?

I’ve always been working in food; it mainly comes from an interest in it. There will be a lot of chefs out there that will agree with me that a lot of training chefs actually have very little interest in food. The ones that are interested in food are the best. It’s about tasting, it’s about getting food right, it’s about making food better. Certainly, talking about food. Here we’ll cook and talk about what it needs. It’s about making it better for next time.