One of the most recognisable restaurant names in the UK will open its first Scottish outpost in Edinburgh this week.
Ottolenghi Edinburgh will welcome its first customers on Friday, 2 October, taking over 92 George Street in the New Town and serving breakfast, lunch and dinner with a menu created specifically for Scotland. Bookings are already open.
The restaurant will combine the vegetable-led, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean-influenced cooking associated with Yotam Ottolenghi with ingredients sourced from Scotland, including east coast langoustines, crowdie cheese, Scottish vegetables and whisky.
It follows the group’s expansion beyond London to Bicester Village, as well as international restaurants in Geneva and Amsterdam.
Where is Ottolenghi Edinburgh?
The restaurant is at 92 George Street, in the heart of Edinburgh’s New Town.
The building was previously occupied by Italian restaurant Ragù, which closed earlier this year.
Plans submitted for the Ottolenghi conversion included stripping out and refitting the restaurant, internal alterations, a redecorated shopfront and new signage.
The property is part of a Category B-listed building within Edinburgh’s New Town Conservation Area and World Heritage Site.
Ottolenghi will open from 8am, giving the George Street restaurant a broad all-day format.
From Monday to Thursday it will operate from 8am until 3pm, reopen at 5pm and close at 10pm.
On Friday and Saturday it will remain open continuously from 8am until 10.30pm, while Sunday hours are 8am until 10pm.
What’s on the menu?
Ottolenghi has published its first menus, with Scottish ingredients and influences appearing throughout.
Breakfast includes a well-fired morning roll with schmaltz butter and date and tamarind ketchup, priced at £9 with one filling.
Diners can choose from middle-cut bacon, sausage, fried egg, herby frittata or potato scone.
There is also a full Scottish breakfast with Urfa baked beans, bacon, sausage, potato scone and fried eggs for £17, alongside shakshuka with braised eggs, smoked labneh and focaccia for £15.50, sweet potato pancakes with date syrup for £12 and banana bread with tahini and honeycomb for £10.
Lunch and dinner move towards the sharing style for which Ottolenghi is best known.
Starters include roasted peperonata with pine nut crumble, miso butter bean mash with Kalamata olive preserve and dill, cucumber achar with curry leaf mustard and fermented green bean kraut with dill and rapeseed oil.
Among the larger dishes are mutton chops with burnt butter and cumin salt for £32, chicken skewers with a coffee and ancho marinade and toum for £27, and beef kofta with warm yoghurt sauce and peanut and currant salsa for £25.
Grilled langoustines with fermented chilli butter and shaved fennel are £38, megrim sole with fenugreek leaf butter and pistachio is £41, while steamed pilpelchuma mussels with chickpeas and dill cost £21.
The restaurant will also serve larger dishes from handmade clay pots, including lamb and aubergine rice pie with dill pickle for £48, caramelised onion lasagne with herb salsa for £42 and braised fennel and cod with flamingo peas and ’nduja butter for £50.
A mixed Jerusalem shellfish grill is listed at £110.
Vegetarians are well catered for, with dishes including grilled oyster mushroom with Scottish shoyu, aubergine with dill, capers and tahini, and cauliflower shawarma.
There are also dedicated sharing set menus.
The vegetarian version is £55 per person, while meat and fish menus are £76 per person.
The published set menus include desserts such as plum rum tart with pistachio frangipane and baked crowdie and pumpkin cheesecake with black lime honey.
What about the drinks?
The drinks list includes natural wines and an Ottolenghi whisky created with Leith-based Woven Whisky Makers.
Cocktails include a £14 whisky highball with pickled ginger and shiso and a £14 sour made with pisco, raspberries, crowdie cheese, tarragon and lemon.
There are three house martinis, including versions featuring kelp, Hebridean sea salt, spruce and peat, available as one full drink or a flight of three mini martinis for £15.
Scottish beers include selections from Edinburgh’s Cold Town.
Who is running Ottolenghi Edinburgh?
The kitchen will be overseen by executive head chef Neil John Campbell, who grew up on the Isle of Skye and has spent almost a decade working with Ottolenghi.
Campbell previously worked in Michelin-starred kitchens in Scotland and Australia before joining the group in London and rising to become executive head chef.
Campbell said: “Coming back to Scotland to open Ottolenghi’s first restaurant here is incredibly special.”
Named Scottish suppliers ahead of the opening include Laurieston Farm, Slow Sauce in Banchory, Welch Fishmongers, Bare Bones Chocolate and Woven in Leith.
Yotam Ottolenghi has said Edinburgh had been on the group’s expansion plans for some time, describing the capital as having one of the UK’s strongest food scenes and highlighting its proximity to Scottish growers, producers and fishermen.
Earlier this year he said: “We’ve been dreaming about opening in Edinburgh for years, at last the time is right.”
Ottolenghi started with a small deli in London’s Notting Hill in 2002 and developed into an international restaurant and publishing brand, with restaurants including NOPI and ROVI and a string of bestselling cookbooks.