i. Biography
From Gleneagles Hotel and The Kitchin to Castle Terrace in Edinburgh and now The Bonnie Badger in Gullane, Dominic Jack’s path has moved through exacting rooms, seasonal Scottish produce, and a clear appetite for running his own food on his own terms. He works as Executive Chef at The Bonnie Badger (Gullane, United Kingdom), carrying forward a nature-to-plate way of cooking tied to Scottish seasons.
Early Years
The earlier stretch of Jack’s career included work at Gleneagles Hotel, a formative stop before his time at The Kitchin in Edinburgh alongside Tom Kitchin. His spell there ran up to 2010, placing him inside one of the most closely watched Scottish kitchens of that period without needing to turn the experience into myth. A precise craft note follows him from that chapter: paté en croūte. Jack gave The Kitchin team a masterclass in how to perfect it, a detail that says as much about discipline and technique as it does about appetite. His own description of the food he makes is compact and direct: "I would say I'm classically trained French but I have a little modern twist on it, I have fun with food and I really enjoy cooking." That sentence helps explain the shape of the career that followed: French training, Scottish produce, and a refusal to make the plate busier than it needs to be.
Making a Name
In 2010, Jack became Chef Patron at Castle Terrace Restaurant in Edinburgh. He was also Chef Owner at Castle Terrace, a role that put authorship and responsibility in the same room: the food, the rhythm of service, the pressure of filling seats, and the daily work of keeping a restaurant alive. There, the cuisine followed a from Nature to plate philosophy, drawing on the finest produce of Scotland’s larder on a seasonal rotation. The restaurant earned a Michelin star, fixing that Edinburgh chapter as a major point in his career rather than a passing appointment. The ambition he set for that restaurant was not ornate. "It was really simple it was just to cook my food basically. To have a busy restaurant, and work hard, but just to have fun." The line has the pace of a chef talking from the middle of service: ownership without grandstanding, pleasure without softness, labour accepted as part of the bargain. He has also put sharp limits around what belongs on the plate. "For me food should be the true flavour of what it is, there shouldn’t be ten, 15 things going on a plate, just, two, three maximum four flavours on a plate, and that’s the job done."
The Present
At The Bonnie Badger, Jack’s nature-to-plate kitchen is tied to Scottish seasons, continuing a thread already visible in Edinburgh while moving it into Gullane. The restaurant has earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand, recognition that fits a chef whose cooking is built around produce, restraint, and the pleasure of flavour presented without clutter. The arc is clean: hotel work, a run beside Tom Kitchin, the responsibility of Castle Terrace, and a coastal East Lothian address where the same seasonal discipline now has a different setting. What remains consistent is the belief that a plate does not need excess to carry force.
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Dominic
What is Dominic Jack doing now?
Dominic Jack works as Executive Chef at The Bonnie Badger in Gullane, United Kingdom.
Where else has Dominic Jack worked?
He worked at Gleneagles Hotel, at The Kitchin in Edinburgh alongside Tom Kitchin, and at Castle Terrace Restaurant in Edinburgh.
Where did Dominic Jack begin their career?
His early work included Gleneagles Hotel before his time at The Kitchin in Edinburgh up to 2010.
