Curtain Up For Zucca Café & Restaurant

It’s show time for Zucca, a new contemporary Italian restaurant which has opened at the famous Royal Lyceum Theatre, on Grindlay Street, Edinburgh. One of Edinburgh’s most accomplished chefs Richard Glennie fought off stiff competition to win the contract for the 45-cover Lyceum restaurant which occupies the mezzanine floor and the café on the ground floor of the Victorian building.

The refurbished restaurant presents muted walls adorned with a selection of promotional posters from Lyceum plays over the years creating a relaxed dining experience. Chatter from the stylish café below adds to the informal atmosphere of this neighbourhood restaurant.

This is the first solo venture for Aberdeen-born Glennie, who was the former head chef of Santini’s at the Sheraton Grand Hotel & Spa and was previously head chef at Channings Hotel where he won many accolades including 2 AA rosettes. His passion for Italian cuisine was ignited during his training at the Ristorante Da Gigetto in Treviso, Northern Italy where he learned about traditional Venento cooking.

Glennie heads a team of fifteen with his long term sous chef, Lyndsay Henderson also joining him from the Sheraton Grand Hotel & Spa.

Richard Glennie who will be director and chef at Zucca said: “This is an exciting time for me, like many chefs I have always dreamed of having my own restaurant. Zucca will welcome local diners as well as theatre-goers with a tempting menu of freshly prepared, well priced Italian dishes. Ingredients have been locally sourced and combined with speciality produce from Italian suppliers. It’s early days but we have high hopes that we will be able to expand Zucca to other locations in the next two years.”

Linda Crooks, Administrative Producer at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, said:

"Zucca is an exciting new restaurant venture that brings a high quality, good value eating experience to our theatre-goers. In a highly competitive field, Zucca stood out as an operation with the passion, creativity and commitment to deliver outstanding cuisine and excellent customer service.

The restaurant is an exciting addition to the area which is set to become a “Cultural Quarter" due to the extensive development of the Usher Hall and its surroundings. The redevelopment is due for completion in August 2008.

For further information visit Zuccarestaurant.co.uk.