Award-winning Edinburgh chef Jun Au is breaking free from his own Pomelo restaurant this month to stage pop-ups in two other neighbourhood restaurants across the city.
On the 20th and 21st of January Au – named ‘Best Asian Chef in Scotland’ by the Asian Catering Federation in 2024 – will be cooking at Argile in Marchmont, collaborating with its chef Jack Montgomery on a six course ‘veganuary’ plant-based tasting menu.
Served chef’s table-style, the menu promises to infuse the big-hitting Asian flavours that Pomelo is renowned for, with Argile’s seasonal, contemporary French cookery.
From the French word for clay, Argile is an independent chef’s table restaurant that opened in 2022 seating just 10 guests, offering a frequently-changing tasting menu showcasing the best of Scottish produce, cooked with a contemporary French leaning and global influences.
Originally a self-taught cook, by the age of 19 Montgomery had worked his way through Escoffier’s Guide Culinaire while living above a market in France, during a university exchange year.
He went on to work in the kitchens of Le Jardin des Sens, Montpellier (where René Redzepi and Sat Bains trained) and Restaurant Alain Chapel, outside Lyon (where Michel Roux Jr. and Alain Ducasse trained).
On his collaborative menu with Jun Au will be fried Jerusalem artichoke, mapo tofu, and butternut squash croquette with sea buckthorn; candied seaweed and mushroom tortellini; 96hour onion broth and pickled main de bouddha; miso and salt-baked celeriac fondant, with salsify puree, cocoa and oyster leaf; chewy beets, with black sesame pesto and espuma of black garlic; lemon and tangerine ice cream mochi; and warm amazake rice pudding, with carpaccio of persimmon compressed with piment d’espelette.
Each evening at Argile will take place over two sittings and will be limited to just 10 covers per sitting, priced at £65 per person.
Then, on the 30th and 31st of January, Jun will head to Newhaven, for a pop-up at its hottest new restaurant, Norah, showcasing a seafood focussed set menu.
Norah is the first opening from Irish born chef, Claire Hanrahan and partner Andrew Ainslie. Opened in August 2025, Norah has reimagined a bistro setting in Newhaven’s picturesque harbour, offering classic Irish inspired flavours using the best of Scottish produce.
Working closely with local suppliers and focusing on seasonal produce, Norah brings an ever changing breakfast and lunch offering to its pierside location, alongside weekly dinners and monthly pop-ups from friends in Scotland and beyond.
On offer at Jun Au’s pop-up will be Trout tartare tartlets, with prawn toast, spring onion soy emulsion and hot sauce; persimmon, red fleshed radish chai squash puree and mole seco; battered broccolini, hot honey and miso bean puree; scallops in xo sauce with eel and salsify; monkfish, dashi roe sauce and potato espuma; and to finish, banoffee pie with fish sauce caramel.
Again, each evening at Norah will take place over two sittings, and the set menu will be priced at £65 per person.
Au himself opened Pomelo in 2021 at the age of just 23, serving the hand ripped noodles he had grown up eating at home.
His hand-ripped noodle bowls soon attracted long queues of lunchtime customers. Popularity grew by word of mouth and The Times and The Guardian both named it one of Edinburgh’s must visit restaurants.
By 2023, Pomelo’s success prompted a move to a larger 24-cover location on Sciennes Road, where the restaurant expanded to offer lunch Wednesday-Saturday, a more refined dinner on Fridays and Saturdays, and an Asian ‘brunch’ on Sundays.
Last year, Jun was awarded an esteemed Acorn Award, as well as listed in CODE’s 2025 30 Under 30. Pomelo was also listed in the Good Food Guide’s 100 Best Local Restaurants.
