Thomas William Kitchin is a Scottish chef and owner of

The Kitchin The Kitchin is a fine dining restaurant in Edinburgh, Scotland, run by Tom Kitchin and his wife Michaela (née Berseilus). It serves fresh Scottish produce in a French style from Kitchin's time spent with Alain Ducasse. It was awarded a Mi ...

, where he became Scotland's youngest winner of a

Michelin star The Michelin Guides ( ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The Guide awards up to three Michelin stars for excellence to a select few establishments. The acquisition or loss of a ...

. Kitchin and his wife Michaela opened The Kitchin in 2006 on Leith’s waterfront. The restaurant was awarded a Michelin Star in 2007, just six months after opening, making Kitchin Scotland’s youngest Michelin star chef proprietor at just 29 years old. The restaurant has retained its Michelin star every year since and has been recognised with numerous leading awards and accolades. In 2015, The Kitchin became Scotland’s only restaurant to hold 5 AA Rosettes. Kitchin trained in some of Europe's leading kitchens, including La Tante Claire in London under

Pierre Koffmann Pierre Koffmann (born 21 August 1948) is a French professional chef. He was one of a handful of chefs in the United Kingdom to have been awarded the coveted three Michelin stars at his restaurant La Tante Claire in London. Until December 2016 he ...

, and

Guy Savoy Guy Savoy (; born 24 July 1953) is a French chef who is the head chef and owner of the eponymous ''Guy Savoy'' restaurant in Paris and its sister restaurant in Las Vegas, both of which have gained multiple Michelin stars. He owns three other res ...

in Paris, as well as Le Louis XV in Monaco, led by

Alain Ducasse Alain Ducasse (; born 13 September 1956) is a French-born Monégasque chef. He operates a number of restaurants including Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester which holds three stars (the top rating) in the Michelin Guide. Early life and career D ...

Career

Born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, Kitchin attended

Dollar Academy Dollar Academy, founded in 1818 by John McNabb, is an independent co-educational day and boarding school in Scotland. The open campus occupies a site in the centre of Dollar, Clackmannanshire, at the foot of the Ochil Hills. Overview As of 20 ...

, a school in

Dollar, Clackmannanshire Dollar ( gd, Dolair) is a small town with a population of 2,800 people in Clackmannanshire, Scotland. It is east of Stirling. Toponymy Possible interpretations are that Dollar is derived from ''Doilleir'', an Irish and Scots Gaelic word mean ...

. After leaving school, he studied

catering Catering is the business of providing food service at a remote site or a site such as a hotel, hospital, pub, aircraft, cruise ship, park, festival, filming location or film studio. History of catering The earliest account of major services be ...

at Perth College before beginning an apprenticeship at the

Gleneagles Hotel Gleneagles Hotel is a hotel near Auchterarder, Scotland. It was commissioned by the Caledonian Railway and opened in 1924. The bandleader, Henry Hall (bandleader), Henry Hall, performed at the hotel before the World War II, Second World War d ...

, near

Auchterarder Auchterarder (; gd, Uachdar Àrdair, meaning Upper Highland) is a small town located north of the Ochil Hills in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, and home to the Gleneagles Hotel. The High Street of Auchterarder gave the town its popular name of "Th ...

Perth and Kinross Perth and Kinross ( sco, Pairth an Kinross; gd, Peairt agus Ceann Rois) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland and a Lieutenancy Area. It borders onto the Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Clackmannanshire, Dundee, Fife, Highland and S ...

. He has worked with Pierre Koffmann, Alain Ducasse, and

, all of whom have been awarded three Michelin stars. At the age of 29, he was awarded his first

, after The Kitchin had been in business for six months. This made Kitchin the youngest Michelin star recipient in the world.

Albert Roux Albert Henri Roux (8 October 1935 – 4 January 2021) was a French-British restaurateur and chef. He and his brother Michel operated Le Gavroche in London's Mayfair, the first restaurant in the UK to gain three Michelin stars. He helped trai ...

is reported to have said that Tom is the chef in Scotland most likely to win three Michelin stars. His cooking style is to combine French

techniques Technique or techniques may refer to: Music * The Techniques, a Jamaican rocksteady vocal group of the 1960s *Technique (band), a British female synth pop band in the 1990s * ''Technique'' (album), by New Order, 1989 * ''Techniques'' (album), by M ...

with seasonal Scottish ingredients, a style discussed in depth in his 2010 book ''From Nature to Plate''. In July 2010, Kitchin opened a second restaurant, ''Castle Terrace'', near

Edinburgh Castle Edinburgh Castle is a historic castle in Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland. It stands on Castle Rock (Edinburgh), Castle Rock, which has been occupied by humans since at least the Iron Age, although the nature of the early settlement is unclear. ...

with chef Dominic Jack. Jack co-owned and ran the restaurant as a sister restaurant to The Kitchin, using the same style and "From Nature to plate" philosophy. The restaurant was awarded a Michelin star in 2011. The restaurant had to close in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. In 2010 he was voted ''

Observer Food Monthly ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'' Cook of the Year. In June 2012, Kitchin received an Honorary Doctorate of Arts degree from Edinburgh Napier University for his significant contribution to Scottish food culture. In 2013, Kitchin and Jack opened Gastro-pub ''The Scran & Scallie'' in the Stockbridge area of the city.

Books

Kitchin has released four cookbooks to date. ·From Nature to Plate: Seasonal Recipes from The Kitchin, published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, August 2009 From Nature to Plate was Kitchin’s debut book which launched at The Edinburgh International Book Festival in August 2009. The book offers a fresh seasonal outlook with 100 of the chef’s favourite recipes, and follows his incredible journey from a young, ambitious trainee in his local country pub, to his exceptional success as Scotland’s youngest Michelin starred chef proprietor, achieving a star, aged only 29. · Kitchin Suppers, Tom Kitchin, Quadrille Publishing, January 2012 · Tom Kitchin’s Meat & Game, Absolute Press, August 2017 · Tom Kitchin’s Fish & Shellfish, Absolute Press, August 2018

Media appearances

Kitchin has appeared as a guest presenter BBC’s The One Show as well as having appeared numerous times on Saturday Kitchen Live and ''

MasterChef ''MasterChef'' is a competitive cooking show television format created by Franc Roddam, which originated with the UK version in July 1990. The format was revived and updated for the BBC in February 2005 by executive producers Roddam and John ...

'', and a brief appearance on Channel 4's Come Dine With Me on the 5th of December 2016 as a friend of contestant Larah Bross. In 2019, The Kitchin was featured in the BBC2 series ''Most Remarkable Places to Eat''. He's also competed on the ''

Great British Menu ''Great British Menu'' is a BBC television series in which top British chefs compete for the chance to cook one course of a four-course banquet. Format Series one and two were presented by Jennie Bond, the former BBC Royal correspondent, where ...

''. and hosted 2010 ''MasterChef'' winner Dhruv Baker for work experience at The Kitchin.

Awards

In 2007, The Kitchin was awarded a Michelin-star and in 2015 it became Scotland’s only restaurant to hold 5 AA Rosettes, both of which the restaurant has held onto every year since. The Kitchin's other awards include: • The Kitchin, 1 star in the MICHELIN Guide Great Britain & Ireland 2021 • The Kitchin, 5 AA Rosettes, AA Best Restaurants 2021 • The Kitchin, Best Restaurant Outside of London, Food & Travel Awards, 2021 • The Kitchin, Best Fine Dining Restaurant, No 2, UK, Tripadvisor Travellers’ Choice Awards 2021 • The Kitchin, Best Fine Dining Restaurant, No 10, Europe, Tripadvisor Travellers’ Choice Awards 2021 • Tom Kitchin, Chef Award, The Cateys, 2020 • Tom & Michaela Kitchin, Restaurateur of the Year, The National Restaurant Awards, 2019 • Tom Kitchin, Winner of Best Chef Regularly Cooking Game, Eat Game Awards, 2019

Personal life

Kitchin is married to Michaela, and they have four children. Michaela is co-founder and executive director of Kitchin Group. She previously worked with the Savoy Group, and spent nearly three years at the seven-star

Burj Al Arab Hotel The Burj Al Arab ( ar, برج العرب, ''Arab Tower'') is a luxury hotel located in the city of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Managed by Jumeirah hotel group, it is one of the tallest hotels in the world, although 39% of its total height ...

in Dubai. Michaela has been instrumental in the design of each restaurant within Kitchin Group, including the group's second restaurant Castle Terrace.

Community support

Since Christmas 2015, Kitchin has been a celebrity supporter of global international development charity,

Mary's Meals Mary's Meals, formerly known as Scottish International Relief (SIR), is a registered charity which sets up school feeding programmes in some of the world's poorest communities, where hunger and poverty prevent children from gaining an education. ...

, which has its headquarters in Scotland, by supporting its annual "One More For Christmas" campaign. As part of this campaign Tom featured in a video showing viewers how to make "The Most Amazing Christmas Dinner", where he demonstrates how to set a place at the virtual dinner table, which provides a year's worth of meals for a child, at a cost of just £12.20 ($19.50 / €14.50). As of December 2016, Mary's Meals provides daily meals in school for 1,187,104 children in 12 developing countries.

Controversy

In January 2020, three of Kitchin's restaurants were failed by hygiene inspectors in less than a year. In July 2021, Kitchin was accused of taking thousands of pounds of staff tips. Also in July 2021, multiple ex-employees of Kitchins's restaurants have accused Kitchin of emotional and physical abuse. Including punching and kicking his staff for making mistakes, mocking them for their hairstyle or perceived weakness at being a chef.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kitchin, Tom Living people Businesspeople from Edinburgh Scottish chefs People educated at Dollar Academy Head chefs of Michelin starred restaurants 1977 births Television personalities from Edinburgh