A former MasterChef: The Professionals champion is preparing to host a city centre oyster and champagne bar next weekend.
As part of the Edinburgh Seafood Festival, Gary Maclean will be shucking fresh Scottish oysters and pouring luxury Champagne Piaff at Bonnie & Wild in the St James Quarter on Saturday, May 4 and Sunday, May 5.
As well as sharing his in-depth knowledge of “all things food” with fans, the chef will be running a prize draw, with the winner receiving a VIP meal for six cooked by him and served in a private dining room at the venue.
READ MORE: New documentary celebrates links between Scotch whisky and sherry
Maclean, who has just unveiled a new menu at his Creel Caught seafood restaurant at Bonnie & Wild’s food hall, said: “I’m hugely excited to be taking part in the Edinburgh Seafood Festival at Bonnie & Wild where I’ll be running the Oyster and Champagne bar in partnership with Champagne Piaff.
“The oysters I’ll be using are truly first class, sourced by my friends at Bernard Corrigan from Cumbrae Oysters on the west coast. They’re among the best in the world.
“While they’re beautiful on their own, I’ve also created a selection of sauces to go with these incredible oysters, including a Chilli Ginger Dressing, Shallots Sherry Vinegar, Yuzu and Toasted Sesame, Tabasco, and Simple Lemon.
“All combined, these will pair beautifully with the Champagne we’ll be pouring.”
READ MORE: Chef Gary Maclean on Scottish celebrations and festive family traditions
Signed copies of Maclean's latest cookbooks will be available to purchase during the event, with the chance to include a bespoke inscribed message from Scotland's National Chef.
He said of his second book, Scottish Traditions, last year: “When I wrote [Gary Maclean’s Scottish Kitchen] I had the idea to include a chapter on helping people to pull together big events, but I just couldn’t fit it in.
“It was all about traditions, the sort of food our grannies or great grannies would recognise, and I wanted to follow that up with another that explored how unique Scotland is when it comes to food celebrations.
“Historically, even when I was growing up, things were quite tough but there were always occasions like Easter to look forward to.
“Christmas was huge too, and the memories I have of that as a kid are really, really special to me.
“The idea with the new book is not to focus too closely into the history of these events, but instead to share the family memories and stories that go with them.”
READ MORE: Chef Brian Maule on what comes next after shock closure of city restaurant
The oyster and champagne bar at Bonnie & Wild is the latest in a series of pop-ups and takeovers at the Edinburgh food hall curated to showcase local talent or Scottish produce.
The seafood event follows collaborations with local bakeries Kilted Donuts and Chulo's Stuffed Cookies, and bar takeovers by Botanist Gin and Isle of Raasay Distillery.
For more information visit the Bonnie & Wild website, here.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here