Javier Dellepiane

Argentinean chef Javier Dellepiane, 34, opened his restaurant Javier’s in Tobermory.

"I originally came to Mull for the fishing," he says. "I started travelling when I was 23, visiting 37 countries and cooking in 11 – five years solid travelling! I came here seven years ago with a back pack and here I am now, owning a restaurant, and I am going to buy another one.

 "I've always liked to cook. When I was at school I would always choose to do. I went to Agriculture College and afterwards I got a base and taught at a restaurant and factory for about four years.

"I had a bakery, a pizza place and a supermarket in Argentina but we moved in 1990 when Argentina went bust – we just closed the doors because we couldn't support ourselves there.

"I love Mull because I really like small communities. I know everybody and everybody knows who I am. I wave to everyone in the street and they all smile back.  I never lock the front or the back door of my house. I leave the key in the car – nobody touches it – everyone knows it's my car. In South America when you close your door it feels like you’re inside a safe. The crime level on Mull is zero. The police must have nothing do here on Mull.  I think the whole island has four policemen!

"If I decide to have a barbeque I just pick up the phone and I’ll have 10 or 15 people here in no time. Even if they’re working they'll drop their tools and say. 'Let's go for a barbie.'

"Island mentality here is to enjoy what you’ve got in the little time you have to live it fully. I think that's the big charm of this place. I've always liked it since the first day I came here. I came just to do some fishing and saw an advert for a chef at The Anchorage. So I dropped my four star hotel job as head chef in Glasgow to come and work on this island.

"And the level of education here is top class – Tobermory High School was one of the top 10 schools in the UK in 2006."

Although Javier has two boats, one in Tobermory Bay the other in the Mish Nish Loch, he also gets his fish from the local fishermen.

"I get my fish locally. I get the langoustines, lobsters, crabs and scallops off the pier. There are about 60 fishermen who supply me with whatever they’ve got that day. Some of the guys dredge for scallops or langoustines. Sometimes they get the odd monkfish, for example, and I would put it on the menu as a 'special'," he says.

"The trout on the menu today is from the Mish Nish Loch. Try pronouncing that after a glass of Shiraz! The fish from Mish Nish!"

"My menu changes every two months; I don't like to cook the same things as I get bored. I'm not an automatic chef; I like to change everything.  My recipes aren’t really from anywhere – neither Scottish nor Argentinean. I just use my imagination from what’s in the fridge. I think about the flavours in my mouth even before they’re there.

"I serve Argentinean-sized portions! I don’t like small portions. That’s the reason people come and eat here. It’s a crime for somebody to charge 20 pounds for a tiny thing in the middle of a dish.

"There are some great restaurants in Scotland.  One of my favourites is The Three Chimneys on Skye – it has the only Michelin Star Award in the North of Scotland.  Jo Currie at Highland Cottage hotel in Tobermory is absolutely fantastic too.

"I love a lot of Scottish ingredients, but I try to do different things. I like to fusion a lot of cuisine with Scottish ingredients. And I love haggis; I've got three different suppliers. Campbell’s prime meat from Glasgow make one of the nicest that I've tried; they actually spice it up a little bit. For the coarse and real flavour of traditional haggis I would go to "Letter Findlay", which is a small Scottish firm that only does Scottish produce."

So is it true there are sunken ships from the Spanish Armada in the waters off Mull? Javier says, "Yes, there's one galleon that sank in the middle of the Tobermory bay. It's one of the most interesting places to dive in Scotland. It’s the number two diving place in Europe. The clarity of the water is 10 to 10, meaning you can see 100 meters underwater."

Javier has packed a lot into his 34 years. "The weather here hasn't got the better of me yet. I will blame my ageing process on the Scottish wind!"

Related Links

• www.javiersrestaurant.co.uk