Edinburgh chef/restaurateur Stuart Ralston will next week launch a Parisian-style wine bar called Vinette in Broughton Street on the edge of the capital city’s New Town. It is his first venture since the September closure of his flagship Aizle, whose name is preserved in Stuart’s newly branded Aizle Hospitality Group.
Vinette, which he is opening with group operations director Jade Johnston, has taken over the site formerly occupied by Scott Smith’s Fhior, and will serve bistro-style dishes using seasonal and artisanal Scottish produce. It also has a late-night cocktail bar in the basement named Vivien after Belle Epoque lesbian poet Renée Vivien, who was British born but lived in Paris and wrote in French.
Stuart says: “After closing Aizle, it felt important to mark a new chapter: Vinette and Vivien are about creating spaces that feel warm, social and a little indulgent. I’m especially proud that I’m opening them with people who’ve been on this journey with me – Jade, who has been integral for more than a decade, and my brothers Scott and Calum, who are stepping into leadership roles. This feels like the group’s natural next project, but with the same commitment to quality we’ve always had. I will be doubling down on my efforts with Lyla and hope to improve tenfold but this allows people around us to continue to grow which is very important to me.“
Stuart will focus his attention on Lyla, his seafood-led restaurant, while his older brother Scott steps up to the role of group chef to oversee his more casual New Town venues Noto – hailed in the 2025 Harden’s guide for its “spectacular” Asian-style tapas dishes – and Italian-inspired Tipo. Younger brother Calum, who has been with the group for 18 months, will head the kitchen at Vinette.
Born in the small town of Glenrothes, Stuart moved in his early twenties to New York, where he worked alongside Gordon Ramsay and undertook stages with chefs including Marcus Samuelsson, Daniel Humm, Paul Liebrandt and Jean-Georges Vongerichten. After a stint as chef de cuisine at L’Acajou, the signature restaurant at the Sandy Lane Resort in Barbados, he returned to Scotland to make his debut as chef-owner with Aizle in 2014.
