After 24 years, seven months, three weeks and one day working as a London underground train driver, Chris Gordon Brown dipped his toes into the food and drink industry for the first time, opening a Thai restaurant in Glenlivet.
In 2021, he opened The Croft Inn near Dufftown with his husband, Pariwat Prajudtane.
The pair met in Thailand and will be celebrating the 19th anniversary of their civil partnership this August.
Chris, 62, admits he didn’t enjoy his job driving trains in the London Underground.
“It just wasn’t me,” says Chris.
“And one of the reasons I chat so much now is I had no-one to talk to for almost 25 years.
“It was a very lonely, soul-destroying job. And mind-numbingly boring.”
Now, Chris has gone from that job where he couldn’t speak to anyone for hours on end, to running The Croft Inn, Glenlivet, with his husband Pariwat (known as Nat).
Here, Chris works front of house and loves entertaining customers with his many stories.
‘What the hell have we done?’
Chris and Nat opened The Croft Inn in Glenlivet on November 21 back in 2021, moving from Dorset.
“It was snowing,” Chris recalls.
“And we thought: ‘what the hell have we done?’
“We’ve bought a pub in the middle of nowhere with no customers!”
The couple considered relocating to various locations around Scotland, but it was Moray and specifically Glenlivet that spoke to them.
“We saw The Croft Inn and fell in love with it,” Chris admits.
“It’s beautiful, stunning. We’ve got mountains in the background, a whisky distillery round the corner.”
They called an estate agent the next morning, and now, five years on, The Croft Inn is a thriving restaurant, bringing in plenty of local customers, and visitors from further afield.
The Glenlivet Thai restaurant gets top marks on TripAdvisor too.
Popular items on the menu include beef massaman curry, chicken satay and prawn tempura.
‘Everybody is a VIP’ at The Croft Inn, Glenlivet
The restaurant’s positive reviews are likely a result of the couple’s attention to detail and desire to make each customer feel welcome, appreciated and “special”.
There is a small team of three running the Glenlivet Thai restaurant, which has just ten tables and seats around 32 guests at one time.
Tabletop games are very popular at the restaurant, with guests enjoying games of dominoes, Jenga, cards and chess.
Chris encourages customers to stay as long as they like, and enjoy a leisurely meal.
He works front of house, aided by waitress Khunrada Saiyat – nicknamed Tuktik – while Nat works solo in the kitchen.
“After the plates are taken out, I always come out of the kitchen to see the customers,” says Nat.
“I ask them if everything is alright, if it’s too spicy.
“The customers are always very happy to see the chef come to the table and speak to them.
“It shows that I care about my food.
“All the customers are the same to me – everybody’s a VIP. I want to make them feel special.
Chris adds: “Without Nat, there is no Croft Inn.
“Nat wanted to cook Thai food, that’s where his heart is.
“But we use local Scottish ingredients.”
The Croft Inn, Glenlivet, chef inspired by parents’ passion for food
The Moray area also means a great deal to Nat, as it is a reminder of where he grew up.
“I love living in the Scottish countryside,” he says. “It’s very different from when I lived in London for ten years.
“It really reminds me of my hometown, Khon Kaen, in Northeast Thailand.
“It’s quiet, quiet and I love the scenery. The people are really nice here too.
“In London, it was busy and the people were always rushing around. It is a good place to visit, but not to live.”
Nat’s passion for food and drink comes from his parents’ background in Thailand’s food and drink scene.
“I was always watching my mother and father cooking when I was growing up,” he says.
“My father worked in the capital city and whenever I had a school holiday, I’d go to Bangkok and help my father with prep in the kitchen.
“He’s very proud to see what we’re doing now.”
Scottish ‘country pub’ meets Glenlivet Thai restaurant
The cosy, nostalgic and rural pub setting in The Croft Inn, Glenlivet, is never going to change, says Chris.
“We’re never going to lose that Scottish pub theme,” he insists.
“We want to be a down-to-earth, country-style pub.”
While some customers are “surprised” at first by the Thai cuisine, he says the feedback is very positive.
“You go to a country pub, you’re looking for a home-cooked meal,” he says.
“Doesn’t technically matter whether it’s Thai, Indian, Italian, French, Chinese, American – it doesn’t matter. What you’re looking for is the home-cooked meal.”
Utilising local produce where possible is a priority at The Croft Inn, Glenlivet, says Chris.
“Every single meal we do is made in-house,” he tells me.
“An example of that is the duck spring rolls.
“The ducks are shot locally on the estate, they go up to Dufftown to be plucked and de-shotted.
“They come back to The Croft Inn, they’re marinated for 24 hours, they’re roasted in-house, pulled apart and then put into the spring rolls.”
Nat grows his own vegetables for the Glenlivet Thai restaurant, including kale, cabbage, spring onion, edible flowers, his own herbs and more.
“When I’ve got time, I love to walk my customers around the garden,” says Nat.
“I can show the customers the vegetables and pick them for them.
“I spend an hour picking the vegetables fresh every day.”
He also sometimes serves up pheasant green Thai curry on the menu, with birds shot on the estate.
And the beef at the Glenlivet Thai restaurant is sourced from S A Mackie Butchers in Aberlour.
‘It has always been my dream’
So do the duo regret their decision to swap a fast-paced life down South for running the Thai restaurant in Glenlivet?
Not one bit.
Nat tells me: “I’m really enjoying it – it has always been my dream.”
Chris adds: “We sometimes burst into tears when we read the positive reviews.
“Even now, talking about them, I’m welling up.
“We didn’t expect any of that. It gives us a huge amount of pride.”
Conversation