Red grouse shooting opens on 12 August, the season closes on 10 December, and the birds reach Edinburgh kitchens within days of the first drives. Grouse lives on heather and wild blueberry up on the moor, and the classic sauce is built from the bird's own bones and finished with blueberries, which puts back what the bird was eating. Tom Kitchin told The Relisher he would send a first-time visitor to grouse before haggis, and he eats his with his hands at Scran and Scallie, the Stockbridge pub he and Michaela Kitchin run. No Edinburgh menu on this list prints grouse, so phone the kitchen and ask before you plan a night around one, and start with the rooms already buying game, where eòrna's chef is a gamekeeper's son.
The Glorious Twelfth.
how it is eaten · Scottish moors, and Edinburgh menus from 12 August
On the list
cooked with at
The Scran and ScallieKitchin's own instruction is to eat the bird with your hands here, in the Stockbridge pub he and Michaela Kitchin own, which is a chef sending you to his own room and is worth reading as such.
cooked with at
eòrna restaurantBrian Grigor's father was a gamekeeper, game is the part of the larder he knows best, and the tasting menu runs a game course whatever it happens to be that night.
cooked with at
The Little ChartroomMark Donald, who holds two Michelin stars at Glenturret Lalique, gives one ordering instruction for this room and it is to take the game.
“Roberta is very good with game, so I'd go for the game.”
Conde Nast Traveller, Cass Farrar, 'Where the Chefs Eat: Mark Donald', 17 October 2024 [4]
cooked with at
The KitchinHarden's diners name the game-season menu as the strongest stretch of the year in this room, which is Kitchin cooking the season in his own restaurant.
Sources & mentions
- [1]
- [2]BASC, quarry species and shooting seasons table
“Aug 12 - Dec 10”
- [3]
- [4]
- [5]