At a glance
- Chef: Giuseppe Manzoli, Italian private chef cooking across Scotland.
- Cuisine: Italian technique cooked with seasonal Scottish produce.
- Where I cook: Dumfries & Galloway, the Scottish Borders, South Lanarkshire and Clydesdale, Edinburgh and the Lothians, Fife, Highland Perthshire, the Cairngorms and Aviemore, the wider Highlands and Skye.
- Typical bookings: Two to thirty guests in private homes, self-catering houses, lodges, castles and small venues.
- Larger weddings and corporate events: Handled through my sister brand, the Italian Banquet Company.
- Pricing: From £75 to £180 per person. VAT and reasonable travel included.
- Lead time: Four to eight weeks for weekends and events; longer in July and August.
- Contact: 07414 235 378 · [email protected]
A private chef cooking intimate dinners across Scotland
I am Giuseppe Manzoli, an Italian private chef cooking intimate dinners across Scotland.. For the last several years I have been cooking intimate dinners, small weddings, milestone birthdays and elopements in homes, self-catering lodges and small venues right across Scotland — from Dumfries & Galloway and the Scottish Borders up to the Cairngorms, Skye and the Highlands.
What I do is straightforward. You pick the dates and the place. I plan a menu around what you and your guests like to eat, shop for the ingredients, cook in your kitchen on the day, serve everything to the table, and leave the kitchen clean. You concentrate on your guests; I concentrate on the food.
The cooking is Italian by training and Scottish by produce. Highland beef and lamb, Orkney scallops, Galloway dairy, Perthshire game, soft fruit from Fife, salmon and shellfish from the west coast — all cooked with the techniques and seasonings I grew up with in Italy. It is restaurant-quality dining, but in your own setting and at your own pace.
How a private chef booking in Scotland works
The process is the same wherever in Scotland you are based.
- Enquiry. Tell me the date, the place, the number of guests, and roughly what kind of evening you have in mind. The more you can share — dietary requirements, favourite ingredients, a budget range — the easier the next step.
- Menu proposal. I send a tailored proposal within 24 hours, with a per-person price and a clear breakdown of what is included. Most clients go through one or two rounds of small adjustments before we settle on a final menu.
- Confirmation. A small deposit secures the date. After that I take care of the shopping, the prep, and any kitchen kit I need to bring.
- On the day. I arrive in time to set up, cook each course in your kitchen, plate and serve at your pace, and clean up after the last guest has left.
For weekends in self-catering houses, lodges and country estates, four to eight weeks of notice is usually plenty. For mid-summer weddings, six months is a more realistic lead time. Last-minute bookings sometimes work — it is always worth asking.
A recent wedding — Beechwood House, Moffat (July 2024)
The clearest example of how this looks in practice is Cynthia So’s wedding at Beechwood House in Moffat in July 2024. Sixteen guests, a multi-course tasting menu built around Galloway lamb and west-coast scallops, served at a single long table in the orangery. Cynthia left a five-star Google review the following week and gave me permission to use the photographs on the site.
There is a fuller account of how the day was organised — the menu, the kitchen setup, the timing — in the private chef in Moffat journal post, which is worth reading if you are planning anything similar.
Where I cook across Scotland
Edinburgh and the Lothians, Fife, Highland Perthshire, the Cairngorms and Aviemore, Dumfries & Galloway, the Scottish Borders, South Lanarkshire and Clydesdale, the wider Highlands and Skye.
South Lanarkshire and Clydesdale. Biggar, Lanark, Carluke, Strathaven and the country houses around the upper Clyde valley. Half an hour from Moffat in one direction and an easy hour from Edinburgh and Glasgow in the other, which makes it a natural fit for couples renting a rural house close to the cities.
Edinburgh and the Lothians. Townhouses and apartments in the city itself, country houses in East Lothian and Midlothian, and exclusive-use venues for small weddings and elopements.
Fife. Carphin House, the East Neuk, properties around St Andrews and Cupar, and the West Fife corridor through Dunfermline. Italian-inspired menus work especially well alongside Fife’s soft fruit and shellfish.
Highland Perthshire. Pitlochry, Dunkeld, Aberfeldy and the lodges around Loch Tay. Game-led menus in autumn, lighter courses through summer.
The Cairngorms, Aviemore and Speyside. Self-catering lodges and exclusive-use houses on the edge of the National Park. Long weekends and full-week stays where I cook two or three of the main meals across the booking.
The wider Highlands, Loch Lomond, Skye and the islands. Glencoe, Glen Etive, Loch Ness, Wester Ross, Torridon, Skye and the west-coast islands. These are typically multi-day bookings — guests want a chef on hand for more than one meal because there is little nearby.
If you are not sure whether your location works, just ask. Most places do.
What I cook
The starting point is always Italian — pasta from scratch, slow sauces, careful seasoning, generous primi and secondi — but the ingredients are almost always Scottish.
A typical menu might open with hand-made pasta dressed with Galloway crab and lemon, move through a primo of slow-braised Highland beef ragù or pan-roasted Orkney scallops, then a secondo of Perthshire venison or wild-caught salmon, finishing with a lighter Italian dolce — panna cotta, tiramisù, semifreddo — alongside Scottish soft fruit when it is in season.
Plating is restaurant-style for seated dinners and family-style for more relaxed evenings. Portions are generous; nobody leaves an Italian table hungry. Vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free and most dietary requirements are catered for as standard — please mention them at enquiry.
What it costs
Private dinners run from £75 to £180 per person, depending on the menu, the number of courses, the group size and the location. The range covers everything from a relaxed midweek supper for eight to a full multi-course tasting menu for a small wedding.
That figure includes ingredients, my time, prep, cooking, service and clean-up, VAT, and travel within reasonable distance. Longer journeys to the Highlands, Skye and the western islands are quoted separately.
Weddings are quoted per event after the menu is agreed. You receive a detailed proposal within 24 hours of your enquiry.
For events larger than around thirty guests, or for full-service catering with a marquee, multiple service points or staff teams, the Italian Banquet Company is the right contact — same kitchen, same standards, set up to handle scale.
Outside the peak season
Demand peaks between May and September. If your date is in October, November, March or April, I can usually offer more flexibility on dates, on menu, and occasionally on price — with the bonus that the scenery in shoulder seasons can be better than the peak. It is worth asking even if your timing feels off-calendar.
Frequently asked questions
Where in Scotland do you cook? I cook anywhere in Scotland a private booking takes me. My home territory is Dumfries & Galloway and the Scottish Borders, but most weeks I am in a different part of the country — Edinburgh, Fife, Highland Perthshire, the Cairngorms, the Highlands or Skye. If your location is not listed above, just ask.
How far in advance do I need to book? Four to eight weeks is comfortable for most weekend bookings. Mid-summer weddings benefit from six months of lead time. Short-notice bookings sometimes work — it is always worth checking.
Will my self-catering kitchen be big enough? Almost certainly yes. I have cooked multi-course dinners in everything from country-house ranges to studio kitchenettes. If anything specific is missing — induction hob, certain pots — I bring it.
Do you cater for dietary requirements? Yes. Vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut allergies, religious dietary requirements and most others are catered for as part of the menu, not as an afterthought. Please mention them at enquiry so I can plan around them rather than substitute on the day.
Can you cook for larger weddings or corporate events? Yes — but for events above around thirty guests, or for full-service catering with marquees and staff teams, the right contact is the Italian Banquet Company, my sister brand. Same kitchen and standards, scaled up.
Is travel included in the per-person price? Travel within reasonable distance of Moffat is included. For longer trips — typically the Highlands, Skye and the western islands — travel is quoted separately and shown clearly on the proposal.
Get in touch
If you would like a tailored proposal for your dinner, wedding or celebration anywhere in Scotland, the easiest way is to send a short note with the date, the location, the number of guests and roughly what kind of evening you have in mind.
- Phone: 07414 235 378
- Email: [email protected]
- Booking form: (link to the WS Form contact page)
I aim to reply with a proposal within 24 hours.