Audrius Dirmauskas, Head Chef at Guys Restaurant in Candleriggs, Glasgow has taken over the lease of the restaurant and renamed the diner The Locarno Dining Room, after the famous Glasgow ballroom of the same name. The chef, who has worked with Guy Cowan for the last 15 years, started out as a kitchen porter and worked his way up. He has now realised the dream of owning his own place. He told DRAM, “Guy taught me a lot, he is passionate about food and so am I. To me being a chef is not a job but a lifestyle and this is the next step for me. I took the restaurant over from Guy on the 30th July and ran it as Guy’s for a month. We then closed for four days to refresh the interior and exterior and we re-opened as The Locarno.” He explains, “I’ve always loved the old stories of Glasgow and a friend, Andy Harris, suggested the name The Locarno, and I just loved it. We’ve painted and de-cluttered, added large mirrors and black and white pictures. Some are of old Glasgow – each has its own story, and some are of the food that we create. It’s the same management team and it’s the same team in the kitchen so essentially it is business as usual.”
He concludes, “I look forward to welcoming customers old and new, and I’m sure they will enjoy the refreshed menu, which includes all our old favourites. Iin the New Year I plan some further improvements.”