In Edinburgh, venerable Italian Bellini has vanished from its New Town premises and is being replaced by Karen’s Unicorn Chinese Restaurant. This is the second branch of the Unicorn after the St Stephens Street original.
Pierre LeVicky, founder of the Pierre Victoire chain, has been happily cooking away in Chez Pierre, his new New Town Edinburgh restaurant for about 18 months now but it seems that he is handy with many more tools than just a saute pan.
We hear that he is about to hold his first art exhibition in the Dundas Gallery on Dundas Street. It goes under the racy title of She-Essence of the Female Nude. Pierre’s arty website is here if you fancy a preview. When he doesn’t have a paintbrush or whisk in his mitts, Pierre must be poring over his spreadsheets as we also hear he is planning a second restaurant.
In Glasgow, there are rumours of a large, new Italian restaurant which is gearing up to open in the West End at the end of October. We also understand that Charan Gill’s Slumdog has pencilled in an opening date for mid-October.