Despite a lack of formal training, he and his first wife opened their first restaurant, The Braeval Old Mill near
Aberfoyle, in 1986. The restaurant won a Michelin star in 1991, making Nairn the second youngest Scottish chef to win a star behind Ross Miller who held one Michelin Star at the Champany Inn at the age of 25. Nairn went on to open Nairns restaurant in
Glasgow in 1998 and a cook school in 2000 at Lake of Menteith. Nairn was a regular chef on
BBC's popular
Ready Steady Cook from 1995 and presented the Wild Harvest and Island Harvest television programmes in 1996 and 1997. In 2008 he defeated
Tom Lewis in the Scottish heat of the
BBC television series
Great British Menu. He went on to cook a main course of
roe venison for
Queen Elizabeth II and 250 guests at the
Mansion House for her official 80th birthday celebration. Nairn was awarded an honorary doctorate by the
University of Stirling in 2007 for his contributions to Scottish cooking and healthy eating campaigns. He was awarded a second honorary doctorate from
Abertay University in June 2016. In December 2017 Nairn was the victim of an assault in Aberdeen. On 28 August 2021, a huge fire on a Saturday evening damaged his restaurant, Nick's, in Stirling. No casualties were reported. ==References==