From The Ritz to The Dorchester, achieved chef David Lake has cooked for the wealthy and well-known in a few of the nation’s most swanky inns.
Now, discerning diners are sampling his undisputed ardour for high quality meals from the cubicles of a humble eatery in a sleepy residential road – within the unlikely locale of Coatbridge.
Name it a café, a deli, a bistro or a restaurant, David concedes that the moniker that greatest defines his first foodie enterprise with spouse and silent associate Maggie “all will get a bit blurred.”
But, the person whose CV reads like an almanac of the British culinary scene holds true the identical values at Café Twenty Eight in Coatbridge as we speak as he did when within the bustling kitchens of Michelin-rated eating places, together with The Ritz, The Dorchester, 4 Seasons on the Inn on the Park, Hollington Home, New Corridor Lodge and Horsted Place Lodge.
David has been head chef in a number of unique five-star deluxe institutions and, at every of them, was awarded 3AA Rosettes for the standard of his meals.
He might have gone from heading up a 23-strong workforce of elite cooks at The Dorchester Lodge, the place he was premier sous chef within the late ‘90s, to as we speak managing 4 members of workers within the North Lanarkshire premises that, for generations, housed The Dunbeth Dairy.
However the new-found tempo into which he has settled at Twenty Eight pleases hard-working David – and astute businessman who has, all through his profession, met and exceeded monetary expectations as a member of meals growth corporations’ senior govt groups.
Three years in the past, David - who was amongst no fewer than 120 cooks in The Dorchester's kitchens at Christmastime - determined to show the warmth down a notch and take management of his personal future by changing into his personal boss.
“We knew we had been going to purchase a enterprise,” defined David, whose most up-to-date job was reduction sous chef at MacKintosh At The Willows, the place he helped its new head chef to settle in.
“My spouse, who's from Kirkintilloch, discovered this place and I got here alongside and had a glance. It wanted a bit of affection. But it surely was in fairly a pleasant, prosperous space and I assumed it might do properly. So, we made the leap.”
One of many qualities of the area that David discovered most alluring is that it has been a store within the coronary heart of the group for some 80 years. And to many locals who maintain it pricey, it's going to all the time be identified affectionately as The Dunbeth Dairy.
One would possibly presume that changing into acquainted for the primary time with the peculiar oddity that's the Lorne sq. sausage would have been a baptism of fireside for somebody of David’s enviable skilled pedigree.
Quite the opposite. The chef has turn into so acquainted with the Lanarkshire staple that he can discuss with authority about how its color could be a useless giveaway that inferior meat and a excessive fats content material is lurking inside.
At Café Twenty Eight on Dunbeth Avenue, you'll be able to sit down and tuck right into a superior high quality slice of the sq. stuff, wedged right into a morning roll, for a mere £3.20. And, for less than £1 additional, you can also make it a double decker.
However, whereas utilizing nice, locally-sourced substances every time doable, the breakfast repertoire of David and his chef, Lloyd Toban – whether or not that be dine-in or takeaway – extends past the modest sizzling, crammed roll.
“We’re not simply your native roll ‘n’ sausage place,” insists David, who opened the cafe’s doorways shortly earlier than lockdown was imposed. “We’re a bit greater than that. We're not the most affordable, and we're not the costliest, both. Both method, 99.9 per cent of individuals pay, and pay fortunately.”
Attempt a bowl of ‘oat delicacies’ within the type of Scottish porridge, topped with fruit compote and honey. The French toast with an additional topping is ‘je ne sais quoi,’ and the Café Twenty Eight smooth, completely poached eggs, which sit on a fluffy, grilled muffin topped with smashed avocado, Scottish smoked salmon and hollandaise sauce, are exhausting to beat.
Smoked salmon’s on the sandwich menu too, served with cream cheese, lemon and chive on wedges of artisan white or brown tin loaf delivered each day from Soja’s bakehouse in Bellshill.
And with David on the verge of investing in his personal out-the-back, bespoke smokery, his Scottish smoked salmon sandwich providing is a complicated 'piece' that’s about to leap into new, unchartered waters within the style stakes.
What he serves presently, he insists, is sweet. However solely by giving Scottish salmon and pork stomach the home-smoked remedy he achieved whereas senior sous chef at East Essex’s Victorian nation home, Horsted Place Lodge, will he attain the flavour and consistency requirements to which he aspires.
The Massive Dishes providing on Café Twenty Eight’s menu is peppered with moreish home-cooked delights, together with beef hash – gradual cooked brisket with onion, savoy cabbage and potato rosti, topped with a free vary fried egg. There’s all the time a dish of the day, posted every morning on Fb, which may vary from confit duck leg to a crisp, contemporary prawn salad.
Café Twenty Eight has even made its personal inventive mark on the common-or-garden sausage roll with its signature deep-filled pork haggis and black pudding variation.
One other agency favorite on the café is its traditional, tiered afternoon tea, that includes a collection of finger sandwiches and artisan truffles. Served with home made jam and clotted cream, its plain and fruit scones, which not too long ago notched up an admirable rating of 9/10 in a Sunday newspaper’s ‘scone spy’ column, are one other star attraction.
David and his workforce delight themselves on sourcing their substances regionally, with fish from John Vallance Seafood Specialist on Blochairn Highway, Glasgow, to high quality meats from S. Collins and Son of Muirhead – the butcher that provides cuts which might be roasted with love and served throughout the café with all of the trimmings every Sunday.
As a result of all dishes at Café Twenty Eight – which, together with out of doors seating, can accommodate 32 covers – are home made from scratch, workers encourage diners to make a reservation always.
Final week, its Spanish day occasion, which noticed friends bringing their very own bottles and tucking into Manchego cheese, Iberico ham, seafood paella with mussels, prawn and calamari, and Seville orange and almond cake, was absolutely booked.
“We're obsessed with service and a focus to element, and we’re obsessed with everybody being greeted,” stated David, who arrange residence together with his household in Gartcosh.
“We'll go spherical each desk and ensure everyone is completely happy. It is a customer-led enterprise and we'll make up dishes for folks there after which.”
Though extraordinarily happy with the glowing feedback posted by his clients on social media, David says of his enterprise: “That is by no means going to be about chasing accolades.
“It's all about buyer suggestions. I'm a typical old-school chef. I'll take 50 constructive clients’ feedback, and bear in mind the one which was not so good as I’d hoped it was going to be. I really like partaking with the shoppers. I’m surprising at remembering names, however I bear in mind all of the faces.”
And if the plaudits which might be heaped on his institution’s high quality meals and heat, attentive service are something to go by, Café Twenty Eight and David Lake are names that might be remembered on the Lanarkshire foodie scene for a very long time to come back.
Whichever method the cookie crumbles, Coatbridge's quantity got here up when Café Twenty Eight arrived on the town.
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