Twenty-four years after the first Notting Hill deli, Yotam Ottolenghi opens his first Scottish restaurant on George Street, with a Skye-born chef and a menu built on Scottish produce.
On Friday 2 October, the Ottolenghi group opened its first Scottish restaurant at 92 George Street in Edinburgh's New Town. It is the brand's first restaurant outside England, twenty-four years after Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi opened the first deli in Notting Hill.
The room runs all day. Breakfast means well-fired morning rolls. Lunch and dinner bring sharing plates and slow-cooked dishes served in hand-made clay pots. The drinks list covers natural wines, an extensive whisky collection including a collaboration with Leith blenders Woven Whisky Makers, and a trio of house martinis.
The kitchen belongs to Neil Campbell, born on the Isle of Skye, who has spent nearly a decade with Ottolenghi in London and now serves as executive head chef. His menu puts Scottish produce at the center: east coast langoustines grilled with fermented chilli butter, crowdie cheese, and heritage whisky, cooked in the brand's vegetable-forward style.
Coming back to Scotland to open Ottolenghi's first restaurant here is incredibly special. This is the food and landscape that shaped me as a chef, and it's a privilege to celebrate the ingredients I've always loved through the flavours and cooking style I've spent the last decade developing with the Ottolenghi team. I can't wait to welcome people through the doors.Neil Campbell, executive head chef, Ottolenghi Edinburgh
The published menu specifics: a mezze spread of dips, pickles and ferments with black garlic butter flatbread; claypot dishes including lamb and aubergine rice pie with chopped dill pickle, caramelised onion lasagne, and cod with flamingo peas and 'nduja butter. The langoustines are supplied by Ochil; the megrim sole, lobster and smoked salmon come from fish merchants Campbell has known since his early days cooking at Ondine.
Ottolenghi has said Edinburgh has been on the list for years, pointing to the city's growers, producers and fishermen. The timing suits the city: a recent Savills report described Edinburgh's food and beverage scene as buoyant, with independent openings outpacing chains, hotel occupancy the highest of any major European gateway market, and footfall up year on year.
The George Street site previously housed the Italian restaurant Ragu. It sits in a Category B-listed building within the New Town conservation area and World Heritage Site. Hours are generous: Monday to Thursday 8am to 3pm and 5pm to 10pm, Friday and Saturday 8am to 10.30pm, Sunday 8am to 10pm.
Whether the formula translates will be decided by Edinburgh diners, not London reputation. But the produce is serious, the chef is home, and the room is open. That is a reasonable place to start.
The opening continues a busy stretch for the group, which has expanded beyond London to Bicester Village and opened restaurants in Geneva and Amsterdam. Edinburgh is the first move into Scotland, and the first where the menu has been built so explicitly around the local larder: the east coast catch, the island cheese, the Leith-blended whisky.
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