US chef Rodney Wages to open first UK restaurant in Edinburgh

Avery Edinburgh will be an ‘evolution’ of Wages' US restaurant, which closed in November last year having originally launched back in 2018.

The decision to relocate Avery to Edinburgh came after Wages, who previously cooked at US institutions including The French Laundry and Atelier Crenn, visited the Scottish capital on a family holiday in 2022.

Taking over the former The Stockbridge Restaurant site on St Stephen Street, Avery Edinburgh will hold 20 covers and serve a 15-course tasting menu that has a focus on Japanese cooking techniques.

The menu will combine mainstays from the San Francisco restaurant with new creations inspired by the fruits of Scotland’s larder including foraged ingredients, game and seafood from suppliers such as Castle Game, Wee Folk of the Woods, The Free Company, and Fungi and Forage.

Dishes will include handmade tortellini filled with a broth of cultured butter and mushrooms, served in a broth infused with roasted garlic, burnt onion butter and chives; a Danish pancake filled with Scottish spider crab, grilled Swiss chard and roasted garlic; and a reimagining of a classic pecan pie with toasted pecans, honeycomb, cognac and Loch Arthur cheddar.

The drinks programme will combine a ‘Champagne-forward’ wine list with an extensive selection of sake to be paired with the menu.