Stuart Ralston’s debut restaurant at the Kimpton Charlotte Square Hotel celebrates its ten year anniversary with new menu offerings.

Now entering its second decade, Aizle is headed by Executive Chef Ashley Salmon of L’Enclume, Rogan & Co and Roganic and Head Chef Phillip Roberts of Oncore by Clare Smyth. 

To mark the milestone, the restaurant has introduced a brand new menu as well as returning the original, shorter five-course tasting menu for £75 to run alongside its current offering, in a move that Ralston describes as “going back to our roots and doing it all again.”

Coming from humble beginnings in the Fife town of Glenrothes, Ralston has gone on to have an extensive international career in the US and Barbados, working alongside chefs such as Gordon Ramsey and staging with David Bouley, Marcus Samuelsson, Terrance Brennan, Daniel Humm, Paul Liebrandt and Jean-Georges Vongerichten.

Aizle first opened on Edinburgh’s St Leonard’s Street in 2014, becoming known for its ingredients-led blind tasting menu revolving around the best of the Scottish larder. In 2020 it relocated to its new premises in Kimpton Charlotte Square Hotel, occupying The Garden room. 

“I’m so proud of Aizle, it’s given me everything I ever needed in life, the people I have met, the food I have cooked, and what I am today is all because of that little restaurant with no menu,” Ralston comments. “The last 10 years have flown by, but without Aizle we wouldn’t be where we are today.

“I am really happy to see Ash and Phil running the kitchen now I am based at my new home Lyla, they are coming up with amazing new dishes. They care about the things I care about, so the DNA still runs deep of what we do,” he concludes. 

Ralston’s restaurant group now includes the Michelin Bib Gourmand awarded Noto (2019) and tipo (2023), as well as the Michelin Guide listed seafood-led fine dining restaurant, Lyla (2023), located on Edinburgh’s Castle Terrace.