Interview: Chef Gary Robinson of Taymouth Castle

Gary Robinson has had a high-flying career to say the least, travelling the world as former Head Chef for the now King Charles. Today he’s on home turf, spearheading the kitchen at Taymouth Castle - a recently reimagined members club - in the Scottish Highlands, revealing it’s the best job he’s ever had.

We may be on the same island as I dial in from my work-from-home London desk on a Monday morning, but as he tells me he was snowed in on the weekend with no access to the castle that’s an hour’s drive away, it’s apparent his day-to-day looks quite different to mine.

We discuss the challenge and blessings of being so remote, the task of laying the groundwork to give the castle an as enriching future as history (we’re talking 500 years) and making his wee ones proud.

What do you love about Scottish cuisine?

I love the honesty of Scottish cuisine. Traditionally, it hasn’t had a great reputation, much like British cuisine overall, which has come on leaps and bounds in the last 20 years. But what we are doing now is product led, as we truly do have access like nobody else has to incredible produce. We cook with great integrity and showcase these ingredients the way they should be. Our beef for example, which has been lovingly looked after in the field – if we were to cook that and put a multitude of sauces and garnishes and fix things on top of that – you would lose the real reason for that being there. To do it with that amount of confidence in the product means that Scottish cuisine is truly about celebrating the ingredient and not trying to be too fancy and clever.

What do you source at Taymouth Castle?

We’ve started with a herd of lowline cattle – our first foray into beef production. That’s our breed of choice because they are slow-growing and can handle winters without needing to be sheltered. The first calves will arrive in June or July next year, and we’ll take the first meat in early 2026. We could buy ready-to-slaughter animals now, give them a bit of feed and say, look what we’ve done, but we wouldn’t have done anything there. It’s important to us, and the direction of Taymouth Castle that we do things properly.

What do you forage on site?

We currently grow a little fruit in our ornamental gardens but don’t have large-scale production yet. So we’re now growing 700 fruit trees of rare heritage varietals in a nursery, which will be planted in November 2025, then left to establish over the next decade or more. These trees don’t grow quickly or yield as much, but they’re the right choice for creating a proper orchard for future generations. I likely won’t see the full benefit of this in my lifetime, but my children and grandchildren will.

Could you tell me a bit more about the atmosphere of the castle, and how the food complements it?

The castle has been brought back to life, with parts of it dating back over 500 years. The building is stunning. The history is incredible. It’s a treasure of the nation and we've been fortunate to call it our home. The more we learn, the more it enriches what we do. Ancient letters, scriptures, and records are helping us piece together its past.

One exciting project we’re working on is recreating a specific dish served in the castle in the 1700s, bringing history to life in the most tangible way. It’s a work in progress, but it’s an extraordinary journey. To do it with 500 years’ worth of history is off the scale. The nuance about what we are and what we've got to play with here truly makes the hairs in the back of your neck standup.

Tell me more about your experience as Head Chef for King Charles and the Balmoral Hotel? How do you bring that with you today at the castle?

Being Scottish, this was always a homecoming for me. My last role at The Balmoral in Edinburgh brought me back after spending most of my career and adult life abroad. I’ve worked in great places and with incredible people, but coming home was quite impactful – especially because of my young children. I wanted them to have a fruitful, outdoors led life where nature is everything, and safety and security is paramount. Living in a place like this, we’re a bit more remote and removed from the big city culture, but there's nothing quite like this. There’s nothing quite like foraging with the kids, picking wild strawberries or raspberries, eating most of them, and turning the rest into something in the kitchen.

My time with the then Prince of Wales was incredible. I was really privileged to have a job like that. And an awful lot of what he stands by in food, farming and the environment resonates massively with me still today. The attitude towards all the right things – doing the right thing by the land, doing the right thing by the seasons – has really stuck. And what I now do with my team is making sure we are honest with ourselves, and we do look after the here and now, because if we don't play a part, then the future is bleak. 

What’s the atmosphere like in the kitchen?

Any kitchen I’ve worked in, I’ve chosen for the right reasons – because it has positive energy and we’re doing something different. I’ve worked in kitchens where the only goal is to get to the other side unscathed and put food on plates to make money. Kitchens with no character, atmosphere, buzz about them, for me, aren’t a place to stay. We have many rules in the kitchen but one is if we’re having a conversation, it’s about food. Challenging each other is when we come up with our best work – whether chopping ingredients or discussing combinations and processes.

How do you balance innovation and tradition in Scottish cuisine?

I’m incredibly fortunate to have a team from diverse backgrounds – not all Scottish – with a bag full of ideas and passion to contribute. We’re not afraid of tech or innovation, or of using equipment to make life easier and come up with a better end-product, but we won’t hide behind it – doing things properly is always our priority.

Now that things are quieter, outside the busy summer season and into winter, we’re running a comprehensive skills programme in the kitchen. We’ve got about 65 skills tests underway, teaching the young chefs to do things properly – scrapping the tech, demystifying cooking, and returning to the old-fashioned but correct way of doing things. We’re redoing all our recipes, techniques, and processes from scratch. It’s a big process, but an exciting one. We’re fully embracing training and development because it’s critical. We’re setting ourselves up for massive success in the future.

What do you forage on site and how do you manage in the winter?

It is tricky in the winter, but we overcompensate in the summer when Scotland is bursting with wild produce. You barely have to take three steps before you see something new, and we've got many, many acres of land we'd never make. We preserve extensively – freezing, pickling, drying, and creating purées – allowing us to feature ingredients like strawberries or salmon year-round. We’re only constrained by our imagination.

That sounds like a fun job.

This is the best job I’ve ever had – I’m in a great place personally and professionally. I want to come home each day, tell my kids about the work I did today, that’s made a difference and make them proud. I want to tell them that we did this really cool thing today and it was amazing.

Favourite dish to cook and why? 

Scotland has incredible seafood, and I know everybody talks about langoustines, scallops and all of those great things, but I’d say a flat piece of fish like a turbot, John Dory or halibut on the bone, probably just cooked on the barbecue with a lid, half steamed, half smoked and paired with new potatoes, green veg and lots of lemon. Turbot is called the ‘king of the seas’, and there's a good reason for that; we're an hour from the coast so I don't have to go to the supermarket, I can just buy it from a boat. And there aren’t many places you can do that.

 Do you have a taste for golf?

I only play once a year due to time, but I love golf and think it’s a great sport. My friend who comes up to stay with us is an avid golfer who plays three times a week down south. We play once a year and I always beat him which is a massive bone of contention. My wife encourages me to play more, but if I could be at home, out with the kids in the garden rather than on a golf course for four hours, then I'd probably choose the former.

Favourite cuisine outside Scotland?

I'm torn between Japanese and Sichuan cuisine. I love Japanese food for its cleanliness, precision, and the incredible discipline behind it. Sichuan cooking is completely different, it’s really quite rogue. I’d probably lean towards Sichuan because of its attitude towards chucking things in and the flavours are out of this world. I'm very lucky, I spent eight years living in Asia and got to experience a lot of really good stuff firsthand. But that probably wins for me.