Tomás Gormley to open first solo fine dining restaurant

Scottish chef Tomás Gormley is to open his first solo fine dining restaurant in Edinburgh this March.

Gormley, who co-founded the Michelin-starred Heron restaurant in Leith in 2020 with chef Sam Yorke, is set to open Cardinal on Eyre Place.

Yorke and Gormley launched Heron after finding success running at-home fine dining pop-up Bad Seeds during the pandemic.

The pair went on to launch tasting menu restaurant Skua in Edinburgh last year which it was added to the Michelin Guide Great Britain and Ireland’s recommendation list in October, with inspectors praising the cooking as “impressive from the get-go”.

Now Gormley is preparing to open Cardinal, a 24-cover fine dining restaurant, as a solo project.

The restaurant will offer a 13-course tasting menu in the evening, with a shorter, more concise menu available for lunch. Each dish on the regularly changing menu will be designed to highlight Scottish produce, with flavours based around pickling, fermenting and ingredients cooked over Cardinal’s wood-fired barbecue.

There will be a “natural-led” wine list to pair with the menu, alongside cocktails and soft drinks.

Ben Mansour, former bar manager at Skua, will oversee the restaurant as general manager while Skua chef James Aikman will be sous chef.

Gormley said: “Cardinal gives me and the team an opportunity to showcase something we don’t think anyone in Scotland offers people yet. It’ll be fine dining for sure, but we want things to feel exciting and fun at the same time. Expect a lot of the same energy you experience at Skua, just in a longer, more detailed tasting menu format.”

Gormley previously worked at Seasons restaurant in Edinburgh and Restaurant Andrew Fairlie at Gleneagles in Auchterarder.