In the first part of the five thirty show's inside look at Scotland's top restaurants, Stephen Jardine learns how to cook seafood at Scotland's seafood restaurant of the year, the Dakota.
It may be surprising to find the top seafood restaurant in Scotland to be located in a landlocked industrial estate near Edinburgh's M90, but the restaurant is not hindered by its distance from the sea as it uses fresh catch from around the coast of Scotland.
Experienced chef Roy Brett, formerly the right hand man of celebrity chef Rick Stein, said his ambition to open a seafood restaurant in Scotland, stemmed from his experiences with Stein.
"I've always really enjoyed cooking fish and shellfish, but really it came to a fore when I went down to manage Rick Stein's business in Padstow. I decided I was going to leave and come back up to Scotland. I felt that it would be great to have a really good seafood restaurant in Scotland," explained Brett.
The chef's signature dish is the seafood platter which is a combination of various shellfish and seafood including native brown crabs, scallops, cockles and lobster all from the coats of Scotland.
Preparing the dish, Scotland's top seafood chef provided tips and hints on how to go about creating the perfect seafood platter.
"Shellfish are beautiful animals and you've got to treat them with a lot of respect. For me, if we can give them justice by cooking them properly then it has been a worthwhile journey," maintained the cook.
Adding each of the shellfish to the pan, Brett adds some fresh, wild garlic and some white wine to add flavour and create a sauce.
"I don't think food gets much better than this. It's one of these dishes that you can never bore of cooking because I've got all this wonderful Scottish seafood and all I've got to do is give it a bit of justice, make sure the wine is cold, make sure the shells are cooked properly and everybody has a party. Happy days."
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