As a head chef, 63 Tay Street’s Fraser Bell has many mottos, including: “I don’t shout, and I don’t throw things.”
Many who have worked in hospitality – and those who haven’t – will have heard tell of chefs with tempers.
Some of whom take the extreme pressure of their job out on other staff, or even customers.
42-year-old Fraser, whose first role in the kitchen was as kitchen porter (KP), has worked in every position – from washing dishes, to taking part in service and now, making the food.
As a result, he knows what it’s like to stand in everyone’s shoes.
“There’s been this idea in the past of the angry chef,” says Fraser.
“Waiters or waitresses would be too scared to go and speak to the chef, in case they’re in a bad mood.
“I think that has changed a little now. But I do also think that can be a negative experience for people.
“This has a derogatory impact on hospitality and I don’t think that should be the case.”
The thought of those cruel chefs still prowling around kitchens these days seems to anger Fraser.
He is chatty and cheerful – the farthest thing from that “angry chef” of old.
He says: “That’s not acceptable in any form of society. So I don’t shout, and I don’t throw plates.”
Fraser has now taken on the role of head chef – and co-owner – at 63 Tay Street, a fine dining spot in the Fair City.
Inside, it’s smart and cosy, with view looking out on the Tay.
There’s a small kitchen and a small number of tables, all the better for providing a personalised, quality experience for guests.
There’s a plate bearing two AA Rosettes on the window sill like a badge of honour, and yet in 63 Tay Street you get the sense it is ran by old friends.
From KP to working with Gordon Ramsay
Back working as KP at just 15, Fraser was thrown into the deep-end, asked to help out with putting some dishes together.
“That was what really started the fire in my belly,” he says, and it’s clear that he means it.
Fraser is a man dedicated to his craft, after many years honing it.
A “Fifer born and bred”, he has worked all over, including in Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant in Chelsea, London, when he was just 20.
“It was crazy,” he recalls, “but it was fantastic.
“I wasn’t there for long. It was a stage [an unpaid chef internship]. I got offered a job, but living in London wasn’t for me, I’m a country boy really.
“He [Gordon Ramsay] knew who I was, which I was shocked about. I was only 20 years old, so I was quite in awe.
“But it was a different world than what I was used to.
“To have a different oven for a soufflé!”
‘That job satisfaction, you can’t put a price on it’
Back then, Fraser says, he was “just a number” in the kitchen. But now, he calls the shots.
“Where I am now, having complete control in the kitchen? I really enjoy that,” he says.
But Fraser didn’t expect to end up as a head chef and co-owner of a restaurant. There’s a look of pride on his face now.
“Everywhere that I’ve been has been a stepping stone for me to get here,” he says.
“Hospitality has given me so much. It’s given me a means to travel, to survive, and it’s given me a passion.”
I could feel it on my face, I was smiling.”
Fraser Bell, head chef of 63 Tay Street
Leaving 63 Tay Street on the first Saturday night after he joined the team, Fraser knew he was in the right place.
“That night I was walking home,” he says, clearly picturing the moment, “very tired but just elated that this was mine.
“This place is ours to do what we want with it. On our head be it, good and bad.
“But that job satisfaction, you can’t put a price on it.
“I could feel it on my face, I was smiling. It’s not very often that you work in a job that you can actually finish a day’s work and be smiling. Normally we’re all shattered, stressed and things like that.
“There was those things as well, but more than that, I was walking out the door, walking home to my family and smiling.
“That was the start of it and it’s grown since then.”
Locals get to see their own veg on the menu at 63 Tay Street
At 63 Tay Street, Fraser has vowed to upkeep the ethos he and co-owner and restaurant manager Christopher Strachan share.
This, says Fraser, is keeping things “honest, simple and local”.
“That’s exactly me in three simple words really,” he says, “I don’t like to overcomplicate things.”
And even while he puts together a complex-looking dish, its roots are familiar – an elevated, delicious apple crumble awaits anyone looking to visit 63 Tay Street.
The duo want to meet locals who take pride in their produce, and spotlight them on the menu.
“A few weeks back,” Fraser recalls with excitement, “a semi-regular came in and gave Christopher a couple of bags of his produce. Then he got to come in and eat the veg he’d brought us.
“The carrot soup with his own carrots, his charred Kinross broccoli and pigeon!
“And going forward, that’s the sort of thing we would like to showcase.
“Not only is it good for us, but it also means food isn’t travelling too far and local growers are getting valued.”
63 Tay Street is open Wednesday to Saturday, with a surprise tasting menu available on Fridays and Saturdays.
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