Nestled in Ullapool, The Dipping Lugger is redefining Scottish dining with hyper-local seafood, Scottish truffles, and a refreshingly simple approach. At the helm is David Smith, a chef whose career has spanned Michelin starred kitchens, but who now thrives in an intimate, two-chef setup where every dish tells a story of the land and sea.
How have your previous experiences shaped your approach to food, and how do you apply those lessons to your work at The Dipping Lugger?
I've always worked in smaller kitchens, and at The Dipping Lugger we're a very small team – there's only two of us. That's really helped me realise what we can and can't do. We can serve 18 people maximum, at a push.
The Dipping Lugger champions a hyper-seasonal approach, with a focus on Scotland’s exceptional produce. How do you go about sourcing ingredients, and what are some of the most exciting Scottish ingredients you’ve worked with lately?
We're very fortunate because the loch and pier's right across the road from the restaurant. I can throw a stone to it, literally! I can pick up scallops, back and forth, in three minutes. We work closely with one of the local estates where we get deer from, and probably one of the most exciting local products we use is Scottish truffles.
Ullapool is known for its stunning coastal setting and seafood. How does being based here influence your menu, and do you work directly with local fishermen to shape your dishes?
Surprisingly it's really difficult to get things up here. It took two years of slowly building up relationships with people. We now have a langoustine guy who also provides us with lobster, and we get our fish from a company 45 minutes away from the village.
Your tasting menus reflect a refined yet approachable take on modern Scottish cuisine. How do you balance technical precision with the desire to create dishes that feel warm, inviting, and rooted in the region?
We keep things simple because there are only two of us. If it's too technical then we'd need to work 20 hours a day! Our tasting menu is rustic, but certainly not complicated. We have a good balance. A couple of weeks ago we started making a fish dish with our own cavatelli pasta, which looks nice and rustic on the plate.
What lessons have you taken from working in high-pressure kitchens, and how do you approach leadership and mentoring young chefs in your current role?
I've not worked in high pressure kitchens for quite a long time, certainly in terms of covers. I was a sous chef in a Michelin starred kitchen for a year, and I learned from the chef there. He didn't shout at the team. There was always pressure, but that pressure came from yourself. Today, I always make sure everything is mapped out so if something does come up, we can chat through it. We had one customer come in who was vegetarian but didn't eat mushrooms, and our vegetarian option was a mushroom dish. Rather than jumping up and down through fear, I simply went outside to see what else we had, and we managed to make something for them and we got through it.
What do you think sets your style apart, and what drives your ambition in the next phase of your career?
I often say it doesn't feel like I've ever worked a day in my life, especially since we opened up here. My style is simple and the ingredients we use speak for themselves. When I was younger I experimented more with different cooking techniques, but I think the best way is just to keep things simple.
How do you see modern Scottish cuisine developing, and what role does The Dipping Lugger play in that movement?
A lot of chefs are now more sustainable towards their cooking. I personally love to show off what we have. Scotland is on our doorstep, so it's great to be able to showcase what we have locally.
Do you have a signature dish or a particular ingredient you always return to?
Every menu we do always starts off with scallops. We do fish, veg, fish, meat, cheese and then a dessert. If we've got people staying over, we'll change the menu each night. So in this case we'd serve a scallop as the first course on the first night, and then serve the scallop as the third course on the following night. I just love starting off a meal with scallop, they're hand-dived and caught right outside the restaurant.
Do you ever incorporate experimental elements into your cooking, or do you prefer a more ingredient-led approach?
Only a couple of good things came out of lockdown for me, and one of them was being able to have time to play with flavours. For example, something we do that I'm not sure anyone else does is serve our deer with liquorice root powder. For me, it triggers something in the back of the throat.
Beyond the food, how do you create an experience that makes people want to travel to Ullapool to dine with you?
We offer wonderful rooms with beautiful views, and given our location, there are some wonderful walks along the loch, too.
Looking ahead, do you have ambitions beyond The Dipping Lugger — perhaps a second restaurant?
Rob, the owner, has put so much into The Dipping Lugger it's been a real labour of love for both he and I. I like to think I'm the soul of the place, I've been here since before it opened and I've never taken a sick day. Maybe one day I'll have my own place, but for now I'm totally committed to The Dipping Lugger.
If you could cook one meal, anywhere in the world, using only local ingredients, where would you go, and what would you make?
I'm a Scotsman and I don't like taking planes, but it would be Madeira. They've got passionfruit growing by the roadside, lots of different varieties. I went to a local fruit market there and ended up spending €75 on all these different passionfruit.
They also have bananas growing on the side of the road, and Funchal, which is the main town, actually translates to 'wild fennel' because there's so much of it growing there. You could never go hungry in Madeira, you could easily just graze by the road or down on the beaches.
The dish I would make though would have to be a passionfruit tart.