Glasgowist: Unalome's Graeme Cheevers on Glasgow's second Michelin star

It was a breakthrough moment for Glasgow. The last restaurant to hold a star in the city before that was Gordon Ramsay’s Amaryllis, which closed in 2004.

It took Lorna just over five months in her first head chef role to achieve the accolade. Dishes on Cail Bruich’s elegant tasting menu have included west coast Scottish brown crab with beetroot and citrus, highland roe deer with squash, polenta and sauce grand veneur alongside gigha halibut, Jerusalem artichoke and beurre noisette.

Michelin inspectors all have a hospitality background so this is the award that chefs value as an international stamp of quality.

READ MORE: Glasgow restaurant Unalome wins prestigious Michelin star

Graeme Cheevers has been through the process before. He admits: “You don’t tend to know when they come in, or even if they have been in. The first indication is usually when they post something about you on social media.”

He worked with Geoffrey Smeddle at The Peat Inn before moving on to Martin Wishart at Loch Lomond, becoming head chef and retaining the restaurant’s Michelin Star. He then took over as head chef at the Isle of Eriska hotel in 2018 and was awarded a star there in 2020.

Before opening in Glasgow, Graeme declared on this page that he hoped to earn a star within the first year of opening his first eponymous restaurant. Yesterday, after eight months, Unalome by Graeme Cheevers became the second dining destination in the city to be awarded this distinction for the latest guide. 

The opening was a leap of faith as much as it was a declaration of intent. Lockdown led to delays. There were challenges. I wonder what Graeme learnt from the experience?

He says: “If you put your mind to it you can do anything. It’s my name above the door this time so that makes it special to me. We were building the restaurant and launching during different times with Covid. It brought more complications with running the business and staffing levels, the way the industry was when we opened. What I learned about myself is that if you focus and put your mind to it then you can achieve anything you want.”

When I first met Graeme last year he was quite straightforward in setting out his plans. Looking back, he says, “people are always scared of stating their mission. I’m quite the opposite. I think that people who have ambition should be encouraged and ultimately they will be rewarded.

“I’ve spent most of my working life at the level where it is important to say what you want. I wanted to be back at a Michelin rated level and that is what the restaurant was designed around.”

He states: “I think we can be happy that it has been a success so far from the response we have had from customers, how busy we have been and how many staff we have managed to retain.”

The lack of Michelin stars in the city was becoming a glaring omission in Glasgow. Sure, there are more important ways to judge the dining experience but being part of that international collection of restaurants means something in terms of prestige and attracting new culinary talent.

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Some of the ingredients appearing in the kitchen at Unalome set the bar high. “I wouldn’t work with any food or products that I’m not completely happy with. I work closely with all our suppliers, some are new, some are old. We’ve supported each other,” he says.

The chefs work in a purpose-built space that’s visible from the dining room, adding to the sense of theatre. “It’s a completely different design from a normal kitchen because it is so open. It’s been good for myself and the staff during service. It’s lived up to my expectations, the equipment is great,” Graeme admits.

My favourite dish from their menu last year was roasted Goodnargh duck with raspberry, beetroot, endive and Andaliman wild pepper sauce. Graeme isn’t keen to single out any personal highlights but he does a piece of turbot with some smoked mussel sauce with cauliflower that he’s particularly happy with at the moment: “I said at the start I wanted every dish to be accessible and to not scare people off with the way the menu is written. Sometimes I feel like high-end restaurants can put people off by not communicating what they are actually getting.

“I have cooked for the customers. I’ve set out to provide tasty food that I like to eat as well. I’m confident the dishes are refined enough that they will be a success.”

Alongside the tasting menu, there’s a set lunch of three courses for £35 with dishes like Kilbrannan langoustine and saddle of Inverurie lamb: “At lunchtime we are always busy. I think it gives people value for money and a teaser of what the experience will be like if they came back for the tasting menu. We have a good following of regular lunch guests who might come in every week. That to me is a great thing to see. They are supporting the business and they clearly feel that they are getting a quality menu.”

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Graeme is among the chefs writing the next chapter for local hospitality and he is delighted to be recognised as among the best of Glasgow, and the country. “The reason I was encouraged to come to Glasgow myself was I thought the food scene was getting better.

“The Gannet is always good and simpler places like Crabshakk and places like that. I think it’s improving all the time and people are appreciating it more. I’m confident in my cooking and I think what I’m doing is the right thing. Ultimately, my main thing is that the guests are happy. The more quality restaurants we can add in Glasgow the better.”