Cardinal: An Interview with Tomás Gormley

Tomás Gormley on cooking over coals, the kitchen garden in Pathhead and a dining room of 24 seats on Eyre Place.

4 minute read · First published October 2026 · Edinburgh

Cardinal is a small restaurant on Eyre Place, between Stockbridge and Canonmills, with 24 seats and a kitchen that cooks mostly over coals. Its chef patron, Tomás Gormley, opened Heron and Skua with Sam Yorke before making Cardinal his own. Eleven miles away, at Bramblewood Farm in Pathhead, the restaurant’s regenerative kitchen garden grows much of the herbs and vegetables for its tasting menus, and every Thursday a lobster boat from Fife brings in the shellfish. Here Tomás talks about cooking over fire and using ferments sparingly, the lockdown months when his kitchen made more than 1,000 meals a day for Scran Academy, why the room stays small, how three restaurants came to be named after birds, and the ramen bar on Leith Walk he would queue for.

Tomás Gormley in a white T-shirt and apron standing by Cardinal's red door in the evening sun.

A man walking towards a polytunnel past a small wooden sign for the Cardinal Kitchen Garden, black sheep in the field behind.

For anyone discovering it for the first time, what is Cardinal?

Cardinal is an intimate fine dining restaurant in central Edinburgh, with a regenerative farm 11 miles away in Pathhead where we grow much of our own herbs and vegetables. We cook mostly over coals and take inspiration from a variety of cuisines, cooking things simply, but in a modern balanced way, and as well as we possibly can is the most important thing in our kitchen.

Tomás Gormley in his apron standing in the doorway of Cardinal on Eyre Place.

The red door between Cardinal's two dark windows, its name in white script above and a pot of flowers on each side.

Cardinal is your first solo venture after opening Heron and Skua with Sam Yorke. What does going it alone feel like?

It’s different, some things are better and easier and other things are harder and more complicated! I’d say I make decisions faster on my own, but can’t say they’re always the right ones. It definitely feels more personal to me for this project, I’m involved with a bunch of different things most of the time but Cardinal is always my main focus and my baby!

Sauce being spooned over slices of Free Co sirloin with peppercorns and tallow on a white plate.

A cup of onion broth on its saucer, lit warm against a black table.

Fire and ferment feel central to how you cook. Where did that philosophy come from?

The fire thing, I’ll be honest, is just a real fun way to cook. It’s exciting and intuitive, the flavour that you can impart on something from a drop of rendered fat that falls and hits the coals before coming back up as smoke and steam is unmatched for me as a means to cook meat, fish and vegetables. Ferments are a way of keeping the menu interesting all year, you’ve got to use them carefully and sparingly, or else every course can get a bit samey. It’s a delicate balancing act across a whole menu.

The Cardinal team together outside the restaurant in the evening sun.

A man crouching to plant seedlings in a bed between wood-chip paths in a long polytunnel.

During lockdown you produced over 1,000 meals a day for Edinburgh’s most vulnerable through Scran Academy. How did that shape you as a chef?

I think about that a lot, I’d been cooking in fine dining restaurants for most of my professional career so switching to high volume catering was a real learning curve. I was managing a huge team of volunteers, working to a crazy small budget and producing serious quantities of food. I definitely walked away from that a better manager and more confident in my abilities to get big projects off the ground and into reality.

Black tables by the curtained windows of the dining room, each with a small vase of dried grasses, lamps hanging low.

A member of staff leaning over to set a table by the window, a candle and dried grasses on it, the blinds half down.

Cardinal seats just 24 people. How important is that intimacy to what you do?

It’s so important, intimate is one of the first words I use when describing the restaurant. Keeping the number low allows us to focus on each table more, but we’re a small team too so it can feel busy. The connection the guest feels to the people serving or cooking for them is such a huge part of what they’ll take away from the experience, so getting that right is a priority for the team too.

The front of Cardinal on Eyre Place, a dark green shopfront with its name in white script and bike racks on the pavement.

A lamp hanging in the corner of the dining room beside a blue and white abstract painting and the curtained window.

Heron, Skua, Cardinal. All birds. What is the story behind that?

We named Heron after our location on the shore and the herons you sometimes see there. Skua is just a great word that happens to be a bird and by the time I got round to Cardinal I felt I had to keep the theme going. I like that there’s an ecclesiastical undertone to Cardinal. I’m probably done with birds now though, might move onto something else for the next one.

Smoked lobster bisque in a black bowl, a spoon resting on its handle, on a dark wooden table.

Two oysters on ice in black bowls on a dark wooden counter.

Scottish produce feels central to everything at Cardinal. Is there a supplier or ingredient you keep coming back to?

We always have lobster on the menu. We smoke the shells before infusing them into a butter which forms the base of a smoked lobster bisque with BBQ potatoes and poached lobster tail. We have a great relationship with our lobster boat, The Tina Louise, in Fife. The lobster delivery on Thursdays is the highlight of our week.

A Cinderella Rockefella cocktail, deep amber in a stemmed coupe, on an orange table.

Milk bread with butter, a small cup and snacks laid out on a dark round table in low light.

Favourite place to eat or drink in Edinburgh when you are not at Cardinal?

There are so many, and it’s always changing! Currently, though, if you can get a seat at Gulp Ramen on Leith Walk, it’s well worth it. It’s from the team behind Mirin and is so, so good. It has a super small menu, expertly executed right in front of you. It’s walk-in only, so you may have to wait for a seat, but it’s definitely worth it.

A gravel path through tall conifers and flowering shrubs at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

A ring of giant sequoias at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, an information plaque set among their roots

Can you recommend a perfect day out before a meal at Cardinal?

A walk through Inverleith Park and the Botanics, coffee at Project Canelé.

Colourful tenement and cottage buildings with turrets and chimneys line a slow river reflecting the sky, railings and greenery along the bank.

A row of colourful gabled buildings lines the Water of Leith, their reflections mirrored in the still water beneath overhanging trees.

Which local walks would you recommend?

Up or down the Water of Leith, perfect in all seasons.

And when it rains?

Go for a run through Dalkeith or Vogrie Country Park, very cathartic.

Which local places do you always tell friends about?

Project Canelé bakery and café near the restaurant.

Lannan Pantry, for expertly curated homewares and ingredients.

Gulp Ramen on Leith Walk, for proper ramen made from scratch.

Kafeneion To Steki on the Shore, for Cretan cuisine.

Tomás Gormley smiling in a dark jacket at the kitchen garden, a polytunnel behind him.

A young beetroot in dark soil, its red stems catching the water from a sprinkler.

Cardinal is at 14 Eyre Place and opens for dinner on Wednesday, and for lunch and dinner from Thursday to Saturday. The tasting menu is served at every lunch and dinner, there is a longer Full Cardinal Experience for a special evening, and a market menu at lunch from Thursday to Saturday is built around whatever the kitchen garden sends in. Book a table online, and if the time you want has gone, email the restaurant and they will do their best to fit you in.

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