One of the longest standing restaurants within the Edinburgh west end business community, First Coast, is planning to mark its 20th anniversary by taking a nostalgic culinary journey back through the last two decades.
The bistro, named after a small village in Wester Ross, opened in 2003, and has since built up a solid customer base in the neighbourhood for an ever-changing menu full of ‘interesting & robust flavours’.
Plans for the anniversary include revisiting some of those menus, with two special celebratory evenings to be held at the bistro on Wednesday 28th and Thursday 29th March, showcasing some of First Coast’s well remembered and favourite dishes, such as octopus, black rice & saffron ailoi; osso buco, bone marrow risotto with purple sprouting broccoli & lemon gremolata, and a dish of deep fried whole gurnard with jasmine rice, sweet chilli, ginger & lime.
“Our special anniversary evenings will be a nostalgic celebration of twenty years of our approach to food,” said First Coast’s manager, Anna. “We are very excited and welcome any customers past or present getting in touch with their suggestions and recollections. We’d love to know what they have loved the most about First Coast over the years,” she said.
Anna added that a “First Coast at Home” 20th Anniversary Takeaway Menu will also be available at this time: “When the pandemic hit, along with many other restaurants, we launched a ‘take out’ service,” she explained. “Unlike some other restaurants, these services are still running three years later, and we are proud of the success they have become.”
The meals, able to be delivered or collected, consist of a choice of three different starters and mains, plus a dessert. Simple cooking instructions ensure they can be finished off at home.
With new development at Haymarket, First Coast is doing all it can to make the most of the new opportunities presented to itself and the many other small businesses in the area, some of which it supports as suppliers.
“The development currently going on can only be good for the area,” said Anna. “We’re a hive of small businesses here, with many genres of food represented in the local eateries, of which we are the most established. We use Throat Punch Coffee, an independent which is just along the road, and regularly buy ingredients from the local Thai and Mediterranean supermarkets.”
First Coast will post more details on its 20th Anniversary Celebrations on its social media pages in the coming weeks.
