St Andrews Links Blog

All hands on deck for Castle Clubhouse reopening

Since its opening in July 2008, The Castle Course Clubhouse has periodically closed its doors over the winter months from November to March. March 2013 is now almost upon us and the entire staff of The Castle Course Clubhouse restaurant is hard at work preparing for the busy summer season ahead.

There is a lot to be done to get the Castle Course Clubhouse restaurant ready in time for the influx of customers who will descend on the restaurant over the summer months. The restaurant staff return a week before the restaurant re-opens to tackle the dust which has been gathering in the four months that the clubhouse is closed, and I can tell you that they certainly enjoy that part of the job! There is crockery, glasses and cutlery to be pulled out of the cupboards and polished, a huge amount of vacuuming and dusting to be done and much much more.

A new season also means a new menu and all of the dishes on the new Castle Clubhouse menu will be prepared in advance for staff to try each one. This gives them a better understanding and knowledge of the menu so that they can accurately describe it to guests when asked.

This is also a time for the chefs to work on the new dishes on the menu. Supporting local suppliers is very important to us and the vast majority of ingredients used in our menus are sourced locally. We buy our cheese from the Anstruther Cheese Shop, our eggs from Kilduncan, our fish from Pittenweem, our fruit and vegetables from Birrell’s and our dairy products from Macgregor’s (both St Andrews); all of which are within a 20 mile radius. In addition to this, one of our managers, Fiona, does some fishing in her spare time on her boat in Crail, and, on the very rare occasion that she catches anything, she will bring the Castle Clubhouse restaurant back some fresh lobsters and crabs to be prepared as specials.

Continuing the theme of supporting local produce, the St Andrews Links Trust are a member of the Scotch Beef Club which means that we only use beef that has been reared and slaughtered in Scotland. This also gives us the unique ability to track the beef that we are buying as all of the cattle are fitted with tags. This means we can track the beef from the field to the plate.

Next time you’re in the area, why not pop in for a cup of freshly brewed coffee and take advantage of the offer that we have on for the month of March: breakfast, a two course lunch and a round on the Castle Course for just £59.00. Find out more here.

 

Words by Fergus Murphy, St Andrews Links F&B department.

Visit the Castle Course Clubhouse page here.