The Gannet reveal plans for new Edinburgh restaurant

15 April 2021

The chef-owners of The Gannet, the award-winning restaurant on Argyle Street in Glasgow, are planning to head down the M8 to the capital for their next venture

Ivan Stein and Peter McKenna will sign contracts at the end of the month to open in Edinburgh this summer.

Exact details of the location will be announced closer to the launch date but they have confirmed their intention to be the anchor restaurant tenant for an upmarket foodhall alongside top local producers. “It’s really exciting, there’s nothing like it in Scotland at the moment,” Peter told the of The Herald on Sunday.

“The Gannet has been open for eight years now and has built up a strong reputation. We use the best Scottish ingredients and we are known for that, not just here in Scotland but across the UK. So this made perfect sense to us, it was a logical next step. We didn’t just want to do another version of the restaurant.

“We have the benefit of using all our suppliers, the folk who hand dive for scallops or harvest the oysters. All the farmers that we have championed over the years. We will bring them to a new audience with The Gannet East.”

There will be a strong bond with the Glasgow restaurant. “We think of this as a shop window for what we do already,” adds Peter. “We get a lot of people who travel through to us on the train – they like the price compared to what you get in Edinburgh. They come over to us for a tasting menu that costs £50. We hope to encourage more people to visit us through this new connection.

“When we first opened, Edinburgh was the big tourism draw but now Glasgow is pulling its weight as a destination and people are then travelling up the west coast visiting distilleries and the islands. It’s fantastic to see Scotland become more inter-linked.”

Ivan and Peter are currently recruiting for a new head chef to lead the Edinburgh operation. “We want to find someone who we can introduce to our network and work with them to design a new menu. We will be launching into research and development over the coming months, ahead of the opening.”

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