Who in their right minds would ever think of opening a small, quality restaurant in Crossmichael? Which was described by one Journalist as "in the middle of nowhere, somewhere north of Castle Douglas".  Indeed, many thought it was a bit crazy.  Could such a small local population in a rural location sustain a restaurant of this type?

Well, despite all the negativity, The Restaurant opened in 1998 as a partnership, Tony Borthwick the Chef, and Charles Kirkbride the Manager (who has since moved on).

Tony Borthwick brought some of the best food in the country to the area, and let it speak for itself.

Although it didn't speak alone. Some of the greatest food awards were very quickly bestowed upon The Plumed Horse.  Michelin awarded a star on the restaurant's second entry in the Red Guide in 2001.  The Good Food Guide awarded it the Best Newcomer 2002 despite stiff competition from at least two of Scotland's most famous and eligible restaurants.

Generally speaking, the Plumed Horse was too far off the beaten track to attract Food Writers and Critics. It took the Michelin Star to wake them up. Eventually, when they did review, it was only the service style of old which came in for criticism. The food has always received praise.

In the second half of its term in Crossmichael more plaudits were bestowed. Russell Robertson received "Young Chef of The Year 2004" during his time under Tony Borthwick. Tony himself, the next year, hauled in "Scottish Chef of The Year 2005".

The style of service became more relaxed by this time. Positive comments were made by Michelin and quite a number of reviewers.  The Plumed Horse was now a firm favourite in every respect.  The Michelin Star was maintained up to the very end in Crossmichael.

It was a brave thing to effectively relinquish the much coveted Star but that's exactly what Tony and team did when they chose to move the business to Leith, Edinburgh. Michelin were keen to maintain Borthwick's star and told him so. Quite rightly, they can't award an establishment that's not open by the time the guide goes to print.

Everyone awaits, with bated breath, the release of next year's guide.

What a strange name for a restaurant! Where did it come from? I'm always asked this question.

When the Restaurant was still in its embryonic stage, the very first property we looked at was an old Turf Accountants office at the lower end of King Street in Castle Douglas. we thought we would keep the Equine connection and call it Ascot.  Some prospective business partners of ours at that time suggested the name "Plumed Horse".

We looked at other properties and very soon the business partners left the project, but the name stuck.

We opened in Crossmichael and upon trying to buy the domain name plumedhorse.com, discovered it already existed. (We got plumedhorse.co.uk instead, but you probably already know that!)

As soon as we were online, we received an email from the Plumed Horse Restaurant in Saratoga, California, who were amazed at there being another one, albeit on the other side of the Atlantic. 

After several online communications, they knew the couple that suggested the name.  It turned out that the couple that suggested the name..... were married there!

If you need to know how they got the name in the first place, follow the link below.

The Plumed Horse in Silicon Valley, Saratoga, California.

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