Michelin Guide-listed Edinburgh restaurants close

The Gardener’s Cottage and Lookout by Gardener’s Cottage restaurants in Edinburgh have permanently closed.

No reasons have been given for the closure, though the websites for both restaurants stated: “We would like to thank you for your support over the years.”

The Gardener’s Cottage was described by the late AA Gill of The Sunday Times as an “exceptional” restaurant when it launched in the city’s Royal Terrace Gardens in 2012.

Owners Edward Murray and Dale Mailley embarked on the project after working together at Edinburgh’s renowned Atrium. In a 2015 interview with The Caterer, Murray said: “We don’t use garlic for half the year. We don’t use onions for half the year. The fresh produce is 100% British.”

In 2018, Mailley opened the Lookout in partnership with the Collective gallery, following the two-year development of the former City Observatory.

The Lookout was praised by the Michelin Guide as a “wonderful spot on top of Calton Hill”,  serving “contemporary, pared-back dishes”.

It offered a £65 tasting menu in the evening, with dishes such as hand-dived Orkney scallop with fennel and bacon, and chocolate with amaretto cherry.

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