What’s your favourite ingredient and why?
M: Whisky. It is so versatile and there’s no other spirit like it. Flavour profiles differ from region and type of barrels they’ve been aged in. It’s easy to create a simple highball, sour or old-fashioned variation and also great on its own or beside a wee beer.
S: Latin American chillies. We import these bad boys from all over south and central America. They all have their specific purpose depending on where they are from. Take the aji amarillo from Peru. It’s the spice base for the blood orange tiger milk we use on our ceviche. It adds a fruity berry element to the sauce and the heat slowly creeps in after a few seconds.
Do you have a guilty food pleasure?
M: Got to be fried chicken, but I definitely don’t feel guilty about it.
S: I’m constantly on the hunt for Edinburgh’s best doughnuts.
Tell us about your first food memory?
M: My first food memory is eating with my family. My mother is Filipino and an amazing cook. Eating is very sociable over there with dishes popped in the middle of the table for everyone to help themselves. We would always have rice with either meat, fish or vegetable dishes.
S: I grew up with three chefs and two keen gardeners within my family. My earliest memories are picking rhubarb and ginger in the garden to make crumble with my auntie Val.
What’s your favourite Scottish restaurant, deli or cafe?
M: Either Ondine and The Little Chartroom in Edinburgh. I’ve shared great memories with my wife and family in both places.
S: I’m a regular at Kim’s Mini Meals, Bijou Bistro and Gardener’s Cottage.
What would be your last supper?
M: A family BBQ with seafood, beef and a spit-roasted pig.
S: We built a seven foot barbacoa pit in our back garden. There’s nothing better than filling this with coal, oak and half a butchered goat, inviting a bunch of friends and family, unearthing all the meat and veggies, and picking it down together.
Starter or pudding?
M: Starter.
S: Pudding.
Do you have any food hates and why?
M: Nope. I grew up eating everything really.
S: Raw garlic. It has its uses but you’ll never find it in any of my recipes.
What starters, main and dessert would be served at your dream dinner party and who would you invite?
M: I’d get a seafood platter, a bone-in rib or porterhouse with a selection of sauces, chips, mac and cheese and a wee salad, then a pistachio tiramisu from Rufino in Copenhagen. I’d invite my friends and family and some class DJs or musicians and finish the night with a filthy party.
S: I’d invite chefs Antony Bourdain, Francis Mallmann, and David Ramsden. We’d eat Scottish game and seafood cooked over fire or raw. For the mains I would do a traditional hāngi, which is meat and veg cooked over hot rocks in a firepit. For desert I’d have burnt Basque cheesecake.
What's your favourite geographical foodie destination?
M: Philippines.
S: Mexico.
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