Newly-opened restaurant The Bearded Chef hoping to add "something different" to Elgin
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A NEWLY-OPENED Elgin restaurant is hoping to provide an exciting and innovative place for Moray folk to visit.
The Bearded Chef, on South Street, is run by Aaron Judge, known as the Bearded Chef, and his wife Kayleigh – known as Mrs Chef – with a little help from their baby daughter Rebel.
The business has been run as a private catering company for two years, but The Berarded Chef took the bold step of opening a café/restaurant in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic.
Things have been a lot better than many would have expected.
"The response from the public has been fantastic and things are going much better than expected," Mr Judge said.
"The support has been great and it has been good to see the community supporting a local business opening up in unchartered times.
"We ran The Bearded Chef as a private catering company but we wanted something bigger and more established, so we opened the restaurant to support the catering side.
"The way things are going, it is turning on its head and the catering is going to support the restaurant."
The restaurant is not yet licensed so hasn't been hit too badly by the recent alcohol restrictions across Scotland.
However, food deliveries have been the order of the day on Fridays and Saturdays. On Sunday, a roast dinner is available – with breakfasts also available and the café open throughout the week.
A 'meal kit' concocted by The Bearded Chef has been popular, with all the ingredients for a meal provided for people to cook at home.
The objective for the café/restaurant, located near the Dr Gray's roundabout on South Street, is to provide something a bit out of the ordinary.
"We want to be innovative, fresh and personal," Mr Judge explained. "We have fresh food, we are family-run and we are looking to bring something a little different to Elgin.
"We have just launched a new line of milkshakes – named Rebelshakes after our daughter – and are looking at doing monthly challenges.
"We are trying to stay current and get children involved."
The first monthly challenge is coming up on Halloween – with a hottest chilli crisp contest taking place at the restaurant.
Those partaking in the challenge will attempt to eat a nacho flavoured with Carolina Reaper chilli – allegedly the hottest in the world.
Mr Judge added: "I saw something similar being done in America so I looked into it and found a site that sells the crisps. I thought it would be fun so I got them ordered.
"It all seems doom and gloom, especially in hospitality, so thought this would inject a bit of fun.
"We will maybe get a t-shirt printed saying the winners managed the challenge. I'm hoping everyone will manage but the crisps are lethal and, apparently, have made grown men cry."
