27-05-2025
- General
- The Herald Scotland
Fish stew earned The Palmerston chef high five from Richard E. Grant
The 60-cover restaurant is housed in a former 19th-century bank, and includes an in-house bakery that serves freshly baked bread and pastries
This week, co-founder and chef Lloyd Morse answers our chef Q&A.
What was your first kitchen job?
I started washing up in a local restaurant outside Sydney when I was 15
Where is your favourite place to eat out?
Kinneuchar Inn, Kilconquhar Fife. James Ferguson is one of the best chefs in the UK.
What is your guilty pleasure meal?
Buy a supermarket margarita pizza. Put ham and pineapple on it, then grate loads of Comté on it.
Can you share a memory of your worst kitchen disaster?
When I first moved to London, I worked at a now closed restaurant called Magdalen. After being there nearly a year I was promoted to sous chef, my first kitchen management position.
We worked with whole animals mostly and on my first Saturday night running the kitchen myself I managed to overcook an entire 4-5kg beef rump. I can remember cutting into it and steam rising out of the grey meat. Still haunts my dreams.
What is your signature dish?
The menu at The Palmerston changes daily. Because of this we don't really have a signature dish, we relish the perpetuity of a changing menu! But one of the things we're known for is our pies for two to share. The fillings often change, but the lamb fat pastry is a constant!
Who would you say is your biggest inspiration?
I couldn't ever pin it on one person. There have been too many.
Read more:
What is one of your pet peeves as a chef?
Spoons in pockets. Disgusting.
If you weren't a chef, what do you think you would be doing with your life?
I'd love to be able to work outdoors full time. Even in the horrendous Scottish winter.
Pictured: Lloyd Morse, co-founder and chef at The Palmerston in Edinburgh (Image: Supplied)
What's your favourite trick for making cooking at home easier?
Learn to sharpen a knife. An accident with a blunt knife will hurt a lot more than a sharp one. And buy the best pots and pans you can. Wide and heavy-bottomed!
What has been one highlight that stands out in your career so far?
Being placed on the National Restaurant Award's top 100 restaurants before we'd been open for a year. It's voted by the industry itself, so it felt like a big welcome hug by hospitality. But also Richard E. Grant high-fiving me for a fish stew I cooked him.
