The head Chef of the Loch Lomond Arms in Luss has won a prestigious accolade at the Scottish Food Awards.

David Hetherington was nominated for four categories at the ceremony in Edinburgh’s Principal George Street Hotel including innovative chef of the year, county chef of the year, provenance chef of the year and an award for informal dining.

And he was delighted to be announced as the winner of the ‘provenance chef of the year’ prize.

He told the Advertiser he set himself the goal of winning the award after going back to work at the hotel in November last year.

The 30-year-old said: “I have worked at the Loch Lomond Arms before and left for a bit but then I came back as the head chef.

“One of the main things I said I wanted to do was utilise everything available on Luss Estates’ land.

“We have deer and lambs on one of the fields and a garden that we get rhubarb and carrots from and I wanted to show that we use a substantial amount of locally sourced Scottish produce and use the best of what we have available.”

The chef, who hails from Renton, was surprised to win the award, but admitted that was the one he wanted to win most out of the four he was up for.

“It was pretty good and I took another one of the chefs with me to the awards.

“We done really well there was some really big names at the awards and some Michelin star chefs, so it was really good to pick up an award for something you are so passionate about,” he added.

David explained that he was nominated for his work by the event organisers, who he met last year when he was the head chef at the Finnieston.

“I was working at another restaurant that won an award for restaurant of the year last year when I met the organisers.

“They know a lot of chefs in the industry, so the aim of this year’s ceremony was to celebrate chefs and the work they do.

“It’s really about the chef getting the recognition rather than the hotel.

“I never expected it but to come back and to set myself that goal and to get the recognition so quickly after coming back was so good.”

“Credit also goes out to all the people I work with at the hotel, to the gamekeepers, and farmers and other staff, without them I wouldn’t be able to do it.”

David was presented with a certificate and medal at the awards ceremony.

Graeme Gordon, the operations manager at The Loch Lomond Arms said: “We are over the moon for David winning the award.

“It displays all that we offer here and all the diverse styles of food that we can make.”

Graeme added: “It also shows that we are trying to a lot of the veg here at Luss Estates and we get lamb from the land too, so a lot of our produce is sourced locally.”

The Scottish Food Awards and Academy Ball was held on Sunday, May 20.

The awards are only in their second year and the competitors are judged by industry experts including chefs, htoel and restaurant managers, entrepreneurs and inspectors.

More at www.thescottishfoodawards.com.