Yet more Glasgow-based independents expand Eastwards. Read on …
(Previous post, dated June 2021:) Well, it’s almost as if the starting blocks have finally been lifted after a year (and more) of champing at the bit. Some pretty significant developments in the Scottish eating-out scene are emerging, no doubt with more to follow.
Following the sensational win in January of Glasgow’s first Michelin Star for 18 years at Cail Bruich under new head chef Lorna McNee, I reckon the most remarkable change in the pipeline is the migration from West to East, with several of the top names in Glasgow’s independent restaurant sector opening outlets in Edinburgh. To be more precise, in Edinburgh’s Bonnie & Wild Scottish food marketplace at the new St James Quarter.
First of these to be announced was Creel Caught, the first solo venture from MasterChef: The Professionals winner Gary Maclean (pictured below left), Scotland’s national chef and lecturer at City of Glasgow College. He has appointed Glasgow-born, Perth-based Stuart Wilson as head chef of the casual dining spot which will champion Scotland’s exceptional seafood paired with seasonal ingredients. There will be nine dishes on the menu to include lobster Thermidor mac‘n’cheese, grilled langoustines with seaweed butter, and monkfish scampi with fries.
“We are working with three fishmongers - Ethical Shellfish Company on Mull, Amity of Aberdeen and Campbell’s Edinburgh - who will supply us with whatever is available each day and our dishes will be dictated by that,” explained chef Gary. “The whole point of this is to focus on freshness, sustainability and flexibility, and to get the most amazing Scotish seafood into people’s hands at a good price.
“This is set to be a Food Hall like no other and it’s precisely why I chose Bonnie & Wild as the location for my first ever solo dining venture.”
Next to announce an expansion to the Bonnie & Wild Scottish food market was the Finnieston stalwart The Gannet.
The Gannet East will open at the end of the month and I can reveal the newly-appointed head chef is John Munro (pictured below). He is a former senior sous-chef at Timberyard, Edinburgh, working under Ben Radford, and senior sous-chef at Tommy Banks’ Michelin-starred Old Swan at Oldstead, Yorkshire.
“We have struck gold with John,” says Peter McKenna, chef-patron of The Gannet. “He brings a wealth of experience back to Scotland and his cooking is similar to our ethos of local, seasonal, and simple. The Gannet East will be serving small plates of beautiful dishes and John will have a shellfish counter and the fabulous Macduff butchery supplying Scotch beef and lamb on his doorstep.
“I see The Gannet East as being a showcase for what we do at The Gannet.”
And Glasgow restaurant group that owns Ox and Finch recently opened a new outlet in Edinburgh of its popular South East Asian oriented Ka Pao. Its large outlet at SJQ is on level 4, overlooking St James Square.
Jonathan MacDonald, chef-patron (below left), explains: “The name Ka Pao is a play on the Thai word for holy basil, the menu is influenced by the cooking of South East Asia. I’ve spent a lot of time travelling and working in that part of the world and have always had a fascination with the food. It’s a passion shared with Daniel and Sandy, our senior chefs, who have also spent time working in Thailand and travelling throughout the region.
“We are incredibly excited to be bringing Ka Pao to Edinburgh and we know that the restaurant’s fun, relaxed, party vibe will be an excellent fit.”
**NEWER West-to-East openings include Glasgow-based BBC Chef Jimmy Lee’s Salt & Chilli Oriental, Glasgow-based winner of UK’s best burger, El Perro Negro, and - you guessed it - Glasgow-based once again! - the fast-expanding start-up “pancake pioneers” Stack and Still (right).
It’s not all one-way traffic. Travelling in the opposite direction - from East to West - is chef Martin Wishart of the eponymous Michelin-starred Restaurant Martin Wishart in Leith, who is returning to Cameron House at Loch Lomond with former colleague Paul Tamburrini to open a new restaurant at the famous lochside hotel, which sufferered a devastating fire in December 2017 which among many other losses destroyed Wishart’s Michelin-starred restaurant there.
The two chefs (pictured below) have enjoyed a long relationship having worked together for over 20 years at Restaurant Martin Wishart in Leith and The Honours in North Castle Street, Edinburgh, which closed in 2020 because of the pandemic.
Paul Tamburrini (left in photo) said: “Cameron House Resort is a very special place. I worked there in the early stages of my career and loved every minute of it, so to now be leading a new fine dining offering in tandem with Martin Wishart is an absolute honour. We have collaborated successfully in the past and we’re confident this venture at Cameron House will be no different. We have the same vision on food and attention to detail, so it just works, and this is an amazing opportunity for us to be working together again at Scotland’s number one resort.
Cameron House Loch Lomond is, of course, where Glasgow-based chef Graeme Cheevers maintained a Michelin star for seven consecutive years. After some lockdown building delays, he opens his first stand-alone venture Unalome by Graeme Cheevers in the West End of Glasgow next to Kelvingrove Park today.
It’s a fair bet that this is one Glasgow restaurat that will be staying put for the foreeable.