As the ninth series of MasterChef gears up for broadcast tonight, the 5pm Restaurant blog was tickled to hear that Gregg Wallace was in Edinburgh last weekend.
Apparently the egg-headed telly presenter was in Ryan’s Cellar Bar and Restaurant having a few drinks with friends after watching the rugby.
Jason Borthwick, general manager of the bar, was delighted, saying: ‘Gregg was a fantastic pleasure to serve over the weekend and he seemed to be having a good time with the group of people he was with. He was very friendly and up for the banter with the staff and other customers who he spent quite a while talking to.’
The well known pudding lover also took a shine to one of Ryan’s desserts describing the bar and restaurant’s chocolate and orange torte as ‘fackin brilliant’.
It may not be the sort of endorsement that you would want to blow up into a massive poster but its heartfelt enthusiasm is still impressive.
‘I knew how much Gregg is a fan of desserts, so I thought why not give him one of ours to try,’ relates Jason. ‘Needless to say our head chef, Sandra Heidet, is delighted with the feedback from a master chef such as Gregg.’
To honour the unexpected visit, Ryan’s are offering an extra-special dish on their weekly specials menu: The Gregg Wallace raspberry marinated rack of lamb, served with new baby potatoes and green vegetables.
‘We love our meat dishes in the cellar restaurant and with Gregg once being a greengrocer, green vegetables were the obvious accompaniment,’ said Laurie Ballantine, restaurant manager at Ryan’s.
The Wallace special will be available until Sunday 17th March at the price of £14.95 (including a drink) in both Ryan’s Bar and The Cellar Restaurant.