Five Star Gigha Halibut on the Howard Menu

The 5 star Howard hotel in the New Town area of Glasgow has often been associated with fine dining and luxurious  surroundings, and Gigha Halibut now features on their menu. Renowned for their butler service, the hotel offers a small but exquisite dining room, The Atholl, for both residents and visiotrs alike – but book early to avoid disappointment.

The Gigha Halibut dish currently on their menu, Grilled fillet of Gigha halibut, steamed greens, chorizo mash, citrus infused oil, is a lovely balanced dish that brings out the very best of the fresh, sustainable Gigha Halibut.

Another successfull GLUG night

GLUG – the Gigha Leek Union of Growers – had its second awards night early in February and was a great night!  Gigha Halibut, proud sponsors of the event, hosted the night in the Gigha Hotel.  The entries were up on last year – indeed over the double the entries of the first year and the quality of the entrants were excellent.

John and Fiona Earnshaw carried out the judging to their usual high level and there were many awards – some frivolous (best Animal Entry)long with the more serious.

Achamore Gardens won first prize with an excellent specimen, Caroline McVean a creditable second and Welsh born Susan Allan third place.

The food was excellent, the atmosphere friendly and slightly competative and everyone left just waiting to start growing this years leeks.

Picture Alisdair Barge and Rob Wilkieson of Gigha Halibut finalising the awards cermony.

Gigha Halibut in top London Restaurant

The Grade 2 listed Andaz Hotel in London has a new Head Chef, Martin Scholz, and he has revamped the seafood menu. This  has led to a search for the finest seafood that the United Kingdom can offer and we are delighted to see Gigha Halibut proudly featuring on their menu.  Its a long way to travel from Gigha to sample the delights of the hotel restaurant, but if anyone is passing Liverpool Street Station its just next door!

For the full review, see here.

GLUG News

Gigha Halibut are proud sponsors of Gigha annual Leek Show and have been instrumental in ensuring excellence in horticultural standards in this years competiton.  A team of top leek inspectors have been carrying out spot checks this month to ensure that health and well-being of the competition and have been taken aback at the quality of this years crop.

Rob “TextMachine” Wilkieson was particulalry impressed with the gigantic specimen being grown by a crack team of horticulturists in a secluded part of Achamore Gardens, claming the size of the leek was starting to produce its own gravitational field. Other front-runners include the Durnins in the Village and others in Grianan.

The island awaits with baited breath the date of the show – a big date in the social calender in the Inner Hebridies.

We’ll keep you posted.

In the city with Gigha Halibut

As the strength of the Gigha Halibut brand grows, so does its distribution chain.  Many fine restaurants already have Gigha Halibut on the menu, from Skye to London town – and now one of the finest restaurants in the North West is boasting Gigha Halibut on the menu.  In Manchester, the City Inn’s AA rosette restaurant City Café has recently launched a new a la carte menu and features Gigha Halibut as one of its entrees.

“It’s a sophisticated, modern European affair that takes the crowd-pleasers and makes them a little bit different – while managing to sneak a few surprises in there as well.  Classics that have been taken to another level include the prawn cocktail which uses tempura king prawns and comes with avocado and tomato salsa, and the fish and chips in ‘bitter and twisted beer batter’ – which sounds like it has been made with some pretty hearty ale rather than a lighter than light lager. The herb-crusted rump of lamb comes with lamb canelloni, and the Roast Label Anglais chicken breast is accompanied by summer girolles (the exquisitely flavoured golden chanterelle mushroom) amongst other carefully chosen sides. Vegetarians are well catered for with options including a beetroot tart with tomato tartare, and white onion and parmesan risotto. Pescetarians have much to choose from – fish features strongly with Gigha halibut, seafood paella, and market fish in the mains. Red-blooded meat eaters will be heartened by the steak frites (21-day aged beef with watercress and béarnaise).”

So, next time you’re in Manchester …

Waitrose visit Gigha Halibut

Another fine Gigha Halibut ready for market

Left  to Right

Dennis Overton – Aquascot
Duncan Sinclair – Agri buyer Waitrose
Alistair Barge – Gigha halibut.
Jeremy Langley – Fish buyer Waitrose
Heather Jenkins – Director responsible for Agricultural Strategy, Waitrose

Waitrose to visit Gigha

A deputation from Waitrose is visiting Gigha week commencing the 9th August. Gigha Halibut are proud suppliers to Waitrose and the deputation is coming to the island not only to visit the Gigha Halibut facility but to see and hear more about the Isle of Gigha Heritage Trust, its ethos, structure and development aims.  The Trust has run the Isle of Gigha since 2002 and is a community company – owned and operated by residents of Gigha.

The visit is also a good opportunity for Waitrose to explain and develop upon their sourcing strategy and describe how this impacts upon and can assist communities such as Gigha.

Three chimneys – Skye’s jewel

Thr Three Chmineys, Dunvegan, Isle of Skye has a reputation for food at the highest level.  It has now achieved another in a long line of accolades after being featured as one of the top five restaurants in the world.  Fank Bruni. the Pulitzer prize-winning authro and legendary New York Time food critic has placed the Three Chinmneys in his top five restaurants in the world, inded the only British Restaurant to appear in his list.

Chef Shirley Spear is quoted in the Daily Mail as saying, “This recognition is a credit to everyone who has workjed here over the past 25 years.”

Gigha Halibut is a proud supplier to the Three Chimneys and the sustainable halibut is currentoly being offerd as a main course with delicious Sconser Scallops.

For more details visit www.threechimneys.co.uk/restaurant-menus.php

Young Scottish Seafood Chef 2010

The Young Scottish Seafood Chef of the year is Nico Simeone from Number One at the Balmoral Hotel, Edinburugh.  In an exciting cook off Nico  beat five other finalists to claim this years title.

Nico’s menu was a mouth-watering seafood delight,  featuring Gigha Halibut for the main:

Ceviche of mackerel, avocado puree and langoustine beignet

Halibut with soft parmesan polenta, fricassee of asparagus, peas and morel, soft boiled quail’s egg and crisp Serrano ham

Sarah Holmyard, Seafood Scotland Marketing Executive, said the competition had generated considerable interest from chefs in colleges, hotels and restaurants throughout the country.  “It is part of a wider package of measures designed to encourage greater consumption of Scottish seafood, and working with young chefs is an effective way to do that,” she said.   “We are delighted to welcome Nico Simeone as our new Seafood Chef of the Year and look forward to working with him over the coming months to promote sustainable Scottish seafood,” she said.

Jim Beagan – A man apart

Staff news

Jim Beagan is leaving us next month , Jim has been with the project since it started on Gigha in 2006.  4 years in fishfarming battling with the elements is a long time and Jim was dedicated and managed to maintain his  sense of humour in testing times. He had that rare ability to understand what halibut were saying .

It is no coincidence that Jim’s iconic image has represented a lot of what Gigha Halibut represents – hard work, a caring attitude, a real commitment to the fish and above all, a terrific sense of humour.

We are very grateful to Jim for all his hard work and wish him well in the future.