Stuart Ralston to launch restaurant on the site of Paul Kitching’s 21212
The 28-cover Lyla will be an ‘oad to produce from the Scottish Isles’, focusing on ‘ingredients from the coastline and earth’.
Kitching’s wife and business partner Katie O’Brien will continue to operate the Royal Terrace site’s four high-end bedrooms.
Ralston says that taking over the space is ‘bitter-sweet’ following the sudden death of Kitching late last year.
“Paul has always been an inspiration to me. When Katie offered it to me, I just wanted to make sure that I would create a restaurant that I think he would be proud of.”
Launched in 2009, 21212 held a Michelin star and closed earlier this year with O’Brien saying at the time that "the passing of Paul has devastated all the team, and the passion that runs through every fibre of the restaurant is not as evident as when it was when he was alive - to us that is unacceptable to his memory.”
The launch will bring Ralston up to a total of four Edinburgh restaurants joining Aizle, Noto and the recently opened Tipo.
He is among Scotland’s most highly-rated chefs with his Aizle flagship having been featured on Restaurant’s list of the top 100 restaurants nine the UK for the past two years.
Dishes on the restaurant's 10-course £145 tasting menu will include N25 caviar with wild bream, black radish and sea buckthorn; Isle of Skye langoustine, bonito emulsion and burgundy sorrel; chawanmushi with razor clam, fermented white asparagus; and laminated brioche with cultured butter and whipped macadamia.
Lyla's wine list is being developed by award-winning sommelier Stuart Skea, and will be a collection of small-domain wines, celebrating new-age and old-world.
The wine pairing will cost an additional £110. There will also be a non-alcoholic pairing using in-house tonics, ferments and kombuchas.
Lyla will operate evenings-only Wednesday to Saturday offering a single seating with guests arriving at 6.30pm.
The space is described ‘refined and elegant, uncomplicated and modern in design whilst respecting the Georgian bones of the building’.
The colour palette will be a combination of earthy tones like umber, limestone, sandstone and carbon and will make use of natural materials.
“I have just turned 40 and my interpretation of the industry has altered and changed over the years. Each of my restaurants represents something I love about this intensely creative and exciting industry," Ralston says.
"Lyla will be unapologetically fine-dining, marrying classical elements of service and experience with dishes that I am really proud of. This restaurant will be a culmination of everything I have learned over the years and everything I love to cook and eat”.
