“Mrs Thatcher. She’s the reason I became a chef,” declares Paul Kitching, founder and Head Chef of 21212. “There was a lot of unemployment in the 1980s, and when I left school and went along to the job centre in Gateshead, there was an advert for a kitchen assistant. I liked food – I liked eating food – but I couldn’t cook for toffee,” he laughs. In reality the role wasn’t even as glamorous as kitchen assistant and Kitching’s first foray into the catering world was as a pot washer. “I started my career washing pots. It’s where a lot of people start their careers in the kitchen. Then I moved into a kitchen assistant role and I loved it. That was in the first restaurant I worked in – a pizza restaurant – and it only paid £16 a week. But I loved it anyway and that’s when I knew I was supposed to be a chef.”

And so began a 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week obsession with food and drink that led Kitching from the pizza parlour to a succession of Michelin-starred kitchens. “I’ve spent 25 years working in Michelin-starred restaurants, and 18 of those years as a head chef, but nothing really prepares you for taking on that role. It’s the most frightening thing in the world. Suddenly, there’s no one to ask anymore and you’ve got to start creating your own dishes. It took me a while to adapt,” Kitching explains.

“So other than his adopted home in Auld Reekie, are there any other things that inspire him? “Happiness … and Champagne – normally together,” he answers”

He earned his own first Michelin star after moving to Juniper in Manchester. “My partner, Katie O’Brien, and I really liked Manchester, but we wanted to get two Michelin stars, and in order to do that we needed a bigger stage to play on,” says Kitching. Manchester’s loss was Scotland’s gain as Kitching decided that his new playground would be Edinburgh. “For the past 15 years we’ve been coming to Edinburgh for our holidays. Every February and every August we would spend two weeks here, walking around and eating in some of Edinburgh’s great restaurants. We would visit other chefs in the city and always think how lucky they were to get the chance to cook here. It was this, amongst other things, that made me come to Edinburgh.

“I also think it’s the nicest, lightest, freshest, prettiest city in the world. Can you believe we actually walked down the street where 21212 is now and thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be amazing to have a restaurant here?’ Eight years later and hey presto, we got the restaurant on Royal Terrace. It’s bloody hard work, but we’ve got it and it’s ours!”

Edinburgh has embraced 21212 and its approach to dining – patrons have two choices for a selection of courses and are served what is on the menu that day for the other courses, hence 21212. “We came up with the 21212 concept when we still had Juniper,” Kitching says. “Restaurants don’t tend to be particularly busy on Tuesday evenings, yet you still do the same amount of preparation. If the food doesn’t get eaten, it goes in the bin and you start all over again the next day. So I decided to do a set menu and the 21212 concept was born – two starters, a soup course, two main courses, a cheese course and two dessert options. We trialled it in Juniper before we came up to Edinburgh and it was really successful, so we knew it would work in Edinburgh. And four years on, it’s still working.”

A mere eight months after opening, 21212, which has four luxurious rooms for out-of-towners, was awarded its first Michelin star, as well as winning Best New Restaurant in the UK at the National Restaurant Awards in 2009. The menu changes every week, and is heavily influenced by the seasons. “Food is nature. And it also depends on how things are looking in Edinburgh. If the sun is shining and it’s bright outside, the dish will be inspired by that sort of landscape. Similarly, if it’s chucking down with rain, I’ll likely put together quite a dark dish. So for good or bad, it’s all down to Edinburgh,” laughs Kitching. “Even though I had been a head chef for 18 years, there was something about coming to Edinburgh that made me feel grown-up. I felt older, more mature. I felt like a head chef.”

So other than his adopted home in Auld Reekie, are there any other things that inspire him? “Happiness … and Champagne – normally together,” he answers. Tried and tested sources. And when he’s not cooking or drinking Champagne, what does he like to do with his time? “Eat!” he says, with great enthusiasm, as he goes on to sing the praises of Edinburgh’s culinary scene.

“I don’t cook at home,” says Kitching, whose digs are about as good as they can get, set within the stunning Georgian townhouse that is also home to 21212. “We obviously have a cracking kitchen we can use – the 21212 kitchen – but why would we when the food scene in Edinburgh is as good as it gets? You’ve got to go a long way in this city to find a bad meal,” Kitching says. “In some cities, you’ve got to go a long way to find a good meal, but not in Edinburgh.”

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 For starters

Kitching starts by making the whisky yoghurt, which consists of natural yoghurt, lemon juice and Glengoyne Cask Strength whisky. This particular dram was chosen as it has a hint of pepper and an oily finish, which sits well with the texture of the smoked salmon. He drapes thinly sliced pieces of smoked salmon onto the plate and adds a few teaspoons of caviar before drizzling the whisky yoghurt over the dish. The dish is garnished with pineapple parchment, chilli parchment (which contains some of the whisky yoghurt), red pepper parchment and coriander parchment, which really bring the dish to life visually. Before the dish leaves, it is drizzled with olive oil and chive oil – a garnish for every dish that leaves the 21212 kitchen.

Main course

The trimmed saddle of venison goes in the oven for 45 minutes, whilst Anya potatoes and carrots are cooked in saffron water until they are soft. A side dish of rice, black olives, gherkins and some finely sliced bacon is prepared and bound with fennel puree. Thin slices of courgette are also prepared to accompany the dish. For the whisky butter sauce, Kitching heats through some tomato consommé and double cream before slowly adding unsalted butter and whisky. A 21-year-old Macallan goes into this sauce. It’s full-bodied, rich and has a sweetness of fruits, with a dry finish, which works well with game. To plate up, Kitching adds the vegetables and tops with the thinly sliced venison. He froths the sauce with a hand blender and carefully spoons onto the dish.

Dessert

With not a ladyfinger in sight, this luxurious trifle is undeniably Michelin-star. Kitching spoons natural yoghurt into the bottom of a glass with peach puree and sponge soaked in orange liqueur. Following that, an assortment of poached dates, Turkish delight, shortbread, meringue and pecan nuts are added to the trifle. A Drambuie anglaise for the trifle topping is made by heating milk and double cream with half a vanilla pod and some sugar over a low heat with three egg yolks. Once the anglaise is ready, Drambuie is added – Kitching used roughly 70ml, but you can add more or less depending on your personal taste. Drambuie was chosen as its sweet and soft notes blend well with the dessert’s ingredients. The Drambuie anglaise is frothed using a hand blender before it is spooned onto the trifle. On the side of this dessert, there were some miniature accompaniments: a poached date, mini meringues, popcorn and a mini flapjack.

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