Nathan and Rachel Outlaw buy the freehold for Restaurant Nathan Outlaw
Chef Nathan Outlaw and his wife Rachel have purchased the freehold for their two-Michelin-starred Restaurant Nathan Outlaw in Port Isaac, Cornwall.
After 14 years of running restaurants, Outlaw has announced that from today the couple officially own the freehold on their flagship Restaurant Nathan Outlaw in Port Isaac.
Outlaw, who was this week crowned winner of the Restaurateur of the Year - Independent category at the Cateys, said: "Rachel and I have always dreamed that we would one day achieve our goal of owning our own restaurant in Cornwall with no backers or investors, and finally, after saving our pennies, we have.
"It's taken nearly 15 years, with a few wrong and interesting turns, but we have got there. It just shows that anyone can do it if they get their head down and work their socks off. The future has now become much more exciting!"
Outlaw has two other restaurants in Cornwall in addition to Restaurant Nathan Outlaw - the Michelin-starred Outlaw's Fish Kitchen, also in Port Isaac, and the Mariners pub in Rock, in partnership with Sharp's Brewery.
His London outpost at the Capital hotel, headed by 2017 Acorn Award winner Tom Brown, opened in 2012. Last year, Outlaw took his empire overseas as he opened Al Mahara at the Burj al Arab in Dubai headed up by Pete Biggs, formerly head chef at the Capital.
Restaurant Nathan Outlaw originally opened in the Marina Hotel in Fowey in 2006, but he later relocated it to the St Enodoc hotel in Rock. It was awarded two Michelin stars in 2011. In 2015, however, the Outlaws moved the restaurant to the clifftop of Port Isaac to a site previously known as the Edge. The restaurant, which boasts four AA rosettes, was awarded a perfect 10 in the Good Food Guide in 2016.
Speaking at the time, Outlaw told The Caterer: "I was there [at the St Enodoc hotel] for five years, and for the first four I was adamant that I was going to buy or do something with that place, but a year ago I sat down and thought, ‘I don't want to bring investors in, I don't want to get backers'. That would have been the only way I would be able to afford it. So I changed my mind. I had taken the restaurant as far as I thought I could take it without doing quite a big refurbishment, which would have meant investing Rachel's and my money into something that wasn't ours.
"We made a very straightforward decision to safeguard our family's future, and I thought that if we're going to invest the money that we've earned in the last five years, we might as well do it in our own place. It just didn't make sense, long term, to keep Restaurant Nathan Outlaw there. That's my main restaurant and that's the one that's going to look after me when I'm an old man."
Speaking about his Catey win, Outlaw commented: "Winning a Catey means so much to me. In my opinion, it's the biggest honour you can get for what you do, day in, day out. I'm still pinching myself because it's for restaurateur and I consider myself just at the start. It will have pride of place in my restaurant where everyone can see it."
Nathan Outlaw on relocating Restaurant Nathan Outlaw to Port Isaac >>
Outlaw's at the Capital announces Tom Brown as new head chef >>
Nathan Outlaw to relocate Michelin-starred restaurant from Fowey to Rock >>
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