Discover Scotland’s fastest-growing foodie scene with TheFork in Edinburgh

The Scottish capital has something for every diner. Edinburgh’s rapidly growing foodie scene is an evolving mix of tradition, innovation, and global influence. Historic pubs serving hearty Scottish fare, share streets with cutting-edge restaurants that push the boundaries of modern cuisine – all catering to both locals and tourists visiting the “Festival City”.

Classic fish and chips, fresh seafood straight from the coast, or creative, locally-sourced tasting menus – Edinburgh offers a feast for both casual diners and gourmet enthusiasts alike.

The city’s culinary reputation has grown significantly over the years, with superstar chefs taking full advantage of Scotland’s rich natural larder, featuring everything from wild game to seasonal vegetables. Many associate Scottish cuisine with neeps, tatties and haggis – but restaurant dining in Edinburgh has undergone a gastronomic revolution, with some of the country’s best chefs reinventing Scottish food in new and thrilling ways.

Bonnar’s at The Scott

New-ish to Edinburgh’s ever-competitive restaurant landscape, Bonnar’s at The Scott believes in celebrating Scottish flavours with an adventurous menu and seasonal, locally sourced produce. Sitting in the shadow of Arthur’s Seat, the restaurant seems like a natural fit for the city’s growing reputation as a food destination – and hasn’t been short of early success.

“Everybody's focused on the city centre, and while there are some restaurants around this area, there’s nothing really offering the same experience as us,” says Gavin MacLennan, Group General Manager. “Edinburgh lately is really becoming a foodie hub. There's much more competition now. I've worked in and around Edinburgh for 30 years, and the quality has never been more spectacular.”

Many restaurants combine Scotland’s rich natural larder of ingredients with unexpected cuisines, and Head Chef Pier Baretta hasn’t hesitated to make the most of Bonnar’s proximity to high-quality Scottish produce. Raised in the Roman countryside, with experience from the prestigious kitchens of Paris and Copenhagen’s Noma, Pier takes a refined approach to sustainable dining.

“We've now partnered with quite a lot of local suppliers, and that really is what this is all about. With Pier’s flare there is an Italian thread through the entire menu, because of his heritage. He’s even been doing quite a lot of local foraging himself – I’ve got a great picture of him up a tree on the estate,” says Gavin. “The University of Edinburgh has its own honey being produced, and they weren't doing anything with it, can you believe that? So, we now take that honey and use it wherever we can.”

TheFork Manager – Custom Menu Management

Gavin explains that Bonnar’s wanted to offer different menu options to diners, “The concept was to create a fine-dining restaurant with a tasting menu, but we additionally wanted to offer a more relaxed A La Carte menu to both diners and guests of the hotel.”

TheFork Manager’s “Preset Menus” feature allows restaurants to advertise different set menus to customers, and even take bookings for each option, allowing restaurant managers and chefs to better plan staff rotas, seating layouts, stock management, procurement.

Additionally, this feature extends to “experiences” – allowing diners on TheFork to book things like kitchen tours or wine tasting as an extra.

To set up custom menus for your restaurant listing on TheFork, you’ll need access to TheFork Manager:

• Go to the “Settings” page once you’ve logged in, then select “Preset menus and experiences” under “Dining and Experiences”:

• From here, you can create, edit or delete bookable menus and experiences. This includes setting the number of available covers, selecting different areas of the restaurant for different menus, the number of courses and the price of each menu.

To discover more features from TheFork Manager, or to sign up with TheFork’s booking management system, get in touch with our team today. Slàinte Mhath!