The soulful and mysterious restaurant that's opened in Edinburgh New Town basement
This place opened in September
Tatties is an appropriately named new Edinburgh restaurant.
Not only can it be found underground - in a basement level property at 5a Union Street - it’s also humble, yet satisfying. Dishes have included sea trout, langoustine and squid, with carrot cream, langoustine sauce and chervil. This produce-led destination, which currently opens for dinner Tuesday to Saturday and for lunch on Saturday only, is owned by chef Jun Jang, who told us a bit more about the intriguing new business.
What's your background?
Throughout high school, I was certain that I wanted to become a physicist. I was eager enough that I had bought most of my graduate school books by the time I was 18. They're all covered in dust back home in Seoul, South Korea. I was particularly fascinated with the idea of studying light. The complexity and aesthetics of it really intrigued me. So, after my conscription (18 months), I went to study at the University of Rochester. I was a physics major, hoping to study everything about light while shooting lasers at atoms in their Institute of Optics.
Three months into university, my grandmother unexpectedly passed away. She was, and still is, very important to my life. It did not help that I had just finished reading The Outsider by Albert Camus and Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse. I fell into thinking that everything I was doing was meaningless. What mattered of these equations and experiments? What had enthralled me turned dull and irrelevant. At the time, it was only the memories of my grandmother that seemed to have colour and warmth. Most of what I remembered was when she was cooking for me.
It was that sense of meaning that made me drop out and pursue a job as a cook. I went back to Korea, applied for a visa to go to France, and walked in and asked chef Hawan Jung at restaurant Gigas, in Seoul, if I could work for him until my visa came through. I would not have been able to transition into cooking so quickly had it not been for him. He was the first chef to mould my work ethic and mindset.
In France, I found my first paid job working with Esu Lee, who is the chef of JIP and Orson in Paris, both tremendously delicious and true happy places for me. He is the most important chef I've met, and I was lucky to have spent time with him. Then I applied for a four-month-long culinary school that sponsored my visa, and did an internship.
After about two years in France, I moved to the UK to live with my then-fiancée, now wife, Tahee (we were friends in primary school and met later in life). We loved Edinburgh, so we both got jobs here. My first job was at Timberyard as a chef de Partie in the meat/grill section, then I got a job at Restaurant Martin Wishart for six months, and she started working as a junior doctor at St John's Hospital. Now I am fully occupied running the restaurant and Tahee, after her gruelling full time job, helps me with admin so I can focus on cooking. She was dishwashing last Saturday when we were unexpectedly busy after she’d had six consecutive work days. It would be impossible to have opened this restaurant without her help and presence in my life.
Why did you decide to open Tatties, and where did the name come from?
I decided to open Tatties because I knew exactly what my values and principles were when it comes to cooking. It’s not the technique, skills, and knowledge I’m talking about here. I lack experience by quite a big margin, but I had faith that I would progress if I didn't compromise in striving towards my goal and was smart with the figures.
Potatoes are quite special in my life. They're humble, fulfilling, nutritious, and so much more. The things I associate with tatties are what I want my restaurant to be. I want to stick with the namesake of ‘restaurant’ (French origin, from the word ‘restore’). It used to be a place where warm broth was sold to ‘restore and nourish’ people. I want to cook with the best local and seasonal ingredients to provide a menu that will nourish people. I want the restaurant to be hospitable with good music, warm lights, kind and genuine staff.
Why did you choose Union Street?
On the verge of giving up, I found this space. The landlord was very kind and generous (thank you, Simon! We're in The Scotsman!).
What was the property previously, and what renovations have you made to the interior?
It was a private event space for the café next door. I believe it had been abandoned for nearly a year. I spent a good full week scrubbing the place down, inside and out. I really changed everything I wanted to within the budget I had. Every decision was made with love and care. I spent weeks choosing every single material, finding the closest product to my vision that I could afford, as well as the layout, furniture, lighting, cutlery and plates. Of course, many things went wrong, but I am grateful that I have a restaurant that is up and running now.
Any signature dishes?
I really haven't worked long enough to have signature dishes. I also operate by ordering produce before deciding on the menu. I order X kilos of vegetables and X kilos of seafood and meat, enough in quantity to feed the approximate number of guests, then try to figure out how to split all the ingredients into starters, mains, and dessert. Our menu is written on the chalkboard at 4:30pm, and sometimes we even change it during service if we run out of produce. There is definitely a compromise in that I can’t precisely design the dish but I am more interested in not wasting the produce that the fishermen and farmers worked hard for.
How do you hope the menu will evolve?
I want to continue cooking with seasonality and locality so that I can develop my style and repertoire based on Scottish produce. It’s an excuse, but I had been too busy and stopped studying nutrition. I really do want to get back to it, develop my thoughts on the topic, and tie it to my cooking.
Any favourite producers that you're using?
It’s a dream to be so close to producers like David Lowrie. They message me every day with what they have and deliver the next morning. Lewis is the person I can trust. He is very honest and will not send anything that is not up to my standards. I also work with Phantassie for the majority of my vegetables and herbs, and they are an amazing local organic producer. I can’t wait for both of them to visit Tatties to try their own produce.
Read more: “I returned to my favourite Edinburgh Michelin-star restaurant and it's still so enchanting”
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