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May 14, 2018

Fhior Chef Scott Smith: no longer at Norn and launching Fhior on Broughton Street.

Edinburgh's Fhior to open to the public on Wednesday 6th June.

As we mentioned a few days back, Chef Scott Smith suddenly resigned from Norn restaurant earlier this month.

His new project, Fhior, will open on Broughton Street in the first week of June.

Fhior, which means 'true' in Gaelic, will open in the premises formerly occupied by Seasons.

Along with his wife Laura and members of the original Norn team, the restaurant will serve 'exciting modern Scottish food'.

Apparently, the menus will be a 'refreshed and refocused take' on those offered by Norn.

Smith says:

'I want to create a place with vibrancy, that is fresh, bright and light. Service will be informed yet casual and the cooking will be honest and clean.'

Fhior: two dining spaces

The new restaurant will be divided into two sections. At the front of the restaurant, there will be a more relaxed café/bar/shop, seating twelve for coffee and fresh pastries; pre and post-dinner drinks plus a range of bar snacks throughout the day.

The main dining room will have 32 covers. It will offer a set tasting menu in the evening four days a week (Wednesday-Saturday) as well as lunch on Friday and Saturday.

The wine list will feature bins from all over the world. At Norn, the wine list majored on organic and natural wines. The Fhior wine list will also focus on wines made with minimal intervention.

The restaurant menu will rely on the trusted team of local suppliers and foragers who visit the kitchen daily. The chef's ethos of sourcing and producing clean flavours in the food will be evident in the new menus. Anything seasonal that isn’t used will be preserved through fermentations, tinctures and drying.

Critical acclaim

In the future Smith also plans to make his famous beremeal bread available for customers to to take home alongside his own produce and local art. The beremeal bread had quite a reputation. The late Sunday Times critic A.A. Gill called it 'divine'.

Mr Gill was not the only admirer. Norn received lots of critical acclaim soon after opening. In 2016, critic Marina O’Loughlin said of Smith: 'a new Scottish star is born'.

Since then he has gone from strength to strength. The chef was awarded a Caterer Acorn Award (30 under 30) and earned a spot in the coveted Sunday Times Top 100 Restaurants list.

This year the Michelin Guide praised his 'creative, intricate cooking' and his restaurant appeared sandwiched between Scottish Michelin stalwarts, two-star Restaurant Andrew Fairlie (87) and one star The Kitchin (94) in the National Restaurant Awards 100 best list.