Independent shopper: Ryan Marshall, Marine Troon

I am the executive chef at Marine Troon, where we have The Rabbit Restaurant and The Seal Bar serving breakfast, all-day dining, and afternoon tea, in addition to a pot of tea and homemade cake if someone wants to sit and watch the waves for an hour or so.

I’m originally from Somerset, but made the move up to Scotland 20 years ago because I was so inspired by the landscape and quality of the produce. It is often said that Scotland’s larder has the very best fish and seafood and being here on the West Coast at Troon we are spoiled for choice, our spring menu will include brown shore crab panna cotta caught just a few miles down-shore from the restaurant. I’m very passionate about working with local suppliers and have been building my relationship with producers in Ayrshire and Glasgow for 15 years while I’ve been living here.

Being in Ayrshire, we have the islands on our doorstep, and I’m pleased that we can have produce from Arran and Mull on all our menus. The Reade family first began producing milk from their Sgriob-Ruadh farm on the Isle of Mull in 1979 before they transitioned into cheese making in 2000. The award-winning cheese is made with unpasteurised milk from cows fed on grass and whisky grains from the nearby Tobermory Distillery. The farm produces 100% of the heat and electricity it uses, making it one of the most sustainable farms in the UK, and is the only remaining dairy farm on the island.

Using Braehead Foods, a specialist food supplier based in neighbouring Kilmarnock, means we’re able to use a network of small-scale producers across the region, including Taste of Arran cheeses, Arran Fine Foods chutneys and Wooley’s of Arran ‘oaties’ oatcakes. These appear on our cheese board in The Rabbit Restaurant and The Seal Bar, it’s great for customers to be able to see the place their food is from without leaving their table.

The most popular dish for locals and visitors has to be our haggis bonbons with Arran mustard mayonnaise and apple gel. Our haggis is sourced from Macsween, a third-generation family butcher in Edinburgh who use a recipe from the 1950s as well as a vegetarian version.

Our meat comes from John Gilmour Butchers who use Tweed Valley reared beef from the Scottish Borders. It is aged for 35 days for the best quality breakfast sausage and sharing steaks. Since joining the team and putting together our new spring menu I’ve been in contact with new and familiar suppliers, such as Nartutre in Ayr who deliver freshly baked sourdough bread for our kitchens to use each day.

Our fish and seafood come from a fishmonger called The Fish People, who I have been using for years. They source an incredibly varied range of fish and seafood from the West Coast of Scotland and the North Sea for dishes such as Ayrshire mussels, smoked salmon and of course, when you’re by the sea you have to have fish and chips!