Meet Matthew Lobban, the Udny Arms’ ubermeister in the kitchen
‘I grew up in Portlethen and left school at 16. I wasn’t sure about what I wanted to do, so I followed my brother into hospitality. I had seen how well he was doing in it and how passionate he was about it. I was a fussy eater when I was younger, but I decided to throw myself at it.
The first kitchen I worked in was the Foyer at His Majestys Theatre and have gone on to work in a number of different places including the Marcliffe, the Chester Hotel, Number 1 Bar and Grill and Amuse.
I feel like I’ve now found a home at the Udny Arms where I can fully develop my style of cooking which is very simple. My goal is to cook great produce to the best of my abilities. I really concentrate on how to get the most natural flavour out of everything. I feel like food is there to give pleasure and not guilt!
I’m very happy with the winter menu as I feel it has a lot of variety on there, but would say my favourite would be the duck liver parfait. It’s always the best thing on any menu anywhere and I’m really happy with our recipe!
The best food I’ve ever eaten was at the Cellar in Anstruther. It was a while ago now, and it’s a shame that it has now closed. I remember every course just blowing me away and inspiring me.
If I could invite anyone to eat here, I think David Attenborough be full of amazing stories and I feel he’d appreciate seeing the seals at the beach. Nathan Outlaw would be another person I would invite as I love his food. He seems like a genuinely nice man that would be full of good advice. And Sam Fender, just in the hope that he’d get up and play a few songs!
Like most chefs, I keep up to date on food trends. I think there will be a resurgence in retro recipes that have a bit of a story to them or a funky name, Chefs will be looking at how they can enhance them with new ingredients or techniques so that we can make them appealing. Another trend will be avoiding food waste, so preserving techniques like fermenting and pickling will be popular.