I MEET Stuart Ralston on the ground floor of Lyla– an elegant seafood restaurant in Edinburgh with stunning views over the Firth of Forth.
Oh, and one of Scotland’s two new Michelin starred restaurants.
“The team was super buzzing, everyone's really happy,” he told The Sunday National.
“Personally it's one of those ones where you get recognition for your life's work and it means you fulfilled something and it feels worthwhile.”
Lyla opened its doors in late-2023. It’s Ralston’s fourth, following ten years of operating leading Edinburgh restaurants including Aizle, Noto and Tipo. And perhaps his most ambitious.
The lengthy 10-course tasting menu, which focuses on Scottish seafood with some Asian influences, was heralded by Michelin judges for its “subtle yet complex blends of flavours and textures”.
Ralston spent his twenties training with some of the world’s leading chefs, including working in New York under Gordon Ramsey at his flagship two Michelin starred restaurant, The London Hotel – which he credits for cultivating the hard work ethic and discipline necessary to gain such an award.
“Being in a two Michelin starred restaurant, it was very difficult. The standards were very high, but it was also very inspiring to be part of something that wanted to achieve certain things and really wanted to be the best – that really cared about what they were doing,” he said.
“I really caught on to that. It really caught my interest. It doesn't mean that you have to work at a Michelin starred restaurant to get a Michelin star or have to work at a starred restaurant to be a great chef, but it probably gives you a bit of a level up.”
He added: “So yeah, I think it's important. And my time there really shaped how I do things now as well as the discipline that I have and the hard work ethic. It all came from that kitchen.”
It’s also this time in the Big Apple – and travelling through his work – that has inspired a lot of the flavours you can see on Lyla’s menu, he explains – particularly some of the Asian influences.
“Living in Barbados, living in New York, traveling across America – those are things that really shaped me. The restaurants that I would eat in on my days off, the time that I'd spent in certain areas like Chinatown in New York, or Koreatown,” he said.
“It gave me different flavor profiles that I hadn't seen before.”
For example, Ralston makes a Chawanmushi at Lyla – or Japanese steamed egg custard.
“I've done it since I came back to Edinburgh 10 years ago. I've always had a rendition of it,” he said.
“This particular one, it's infused with a trout charcuterie, so we treat trout like ham. It's got a very similar flavor profile.”
But there are also very many influences from home – including fish and chips.
“We do a langoustine that we wrap in kataifi pastry (above), so it has a crispy shell. We deep fry it for like 30 seconds, so it's just warm. but it's kind of a play on fish and chips,” he said.
“I grew up in Glenrothes in Fife. You get a lot of fish and chips with brown sauce and a lot of vinegar through it. So those combinations of the fried fish with a little burnt apple, that we put a lot of tamarind through, has a similar sort of profile. It's very vinegar.
Ralston added: “So, that to me typifies my experiences as a child and my background. But in a way that is much more refined for this restaurant.”
Talking about the restaurant and food industry in Scotland more widely, Ralston believes it is the best it has ever been.
“I think it's an amazing place to be for food right now because there's so much diversity – more than there ever used to be when I was growing up,” he said.
“There was probably only really Martin Wishart and Tom Kitchen who were the main big chefs at the time. And they cooked similar-ish foods – a Michelin French sort of style. Which I love as well.”
The chef added: “But now you can have hand-ripped noodles in some places and great sushi. Great pizza, great pasta restaurants. Especially Edinburgh and Glasgow have such great restaurants.”
