][1]According to reports in last week’s Guardian and yesterday’s Reading Post, chef Alan Murchison is actively searching for a new restaurant site in Edinburgh.
Murchison already holds a Michelin star at both his L’Ortalan restaurant near Reading and at La Becasse in Ludlow.
His Edinburgh ambitions are part of a wider plan to open eight more fine dining restaurants and winning eight more Michelin stars thus bringing his total haul to ten.
Originally from Inverness, Murchison is a well established name in restaurant circles but his growing public profile, thanks to TV programs such as the Great British Menu, seems to have ignited much more expansive ideas.
If he does open a restaurant in Edinburgh and the Michelin man gives it his seal of approval then it will be interesting to see how the city’s five other Michelin-starred operators react.
So far anyway, they all say that increased competition is healthy and that more stars attract more customers from not just Scotland but all over the world.
However, it does beg the question how many Michelin-starred premises can a city the size of Edinburgh accommodate?
What do you think? Is five enough? Would six be too many?