From Scotland to Australia to Ghana and back to Scotland, chef Jason Wright has had an interesting decade.
Wright was already a veteran chef when he left Scotland for Australia ten years ago, having operated two restaurants in central Edinburgh – named Steak and Fish, respectively – before the age of 30. He was all set to open a third – this time in Leith – but abruptly changed direction and opted for a new adventure instead.
Relocating to Australia, Jason jumped straight into a consultancy job opening a 200-plus seat restaurant in Sydney before moving to restaurant operator Garfish, which owned three sites in the city at the time, as head chef.
In the following years he went on to open acclaimed seafood restaurant Arthur’s Oysters in Manly before moving north to work in a restaurant near Byron Bay.
At this point things take a turn. Jason was lured away from the Australian lifestyle by a US-based investor of Ghanian heritage who wanted to set up a restaurant in Ghana.
Jason was recruited to train the team and design the menus. The project was well underway when it all came crashing down.
In a series of events straight out of a screenplay, the investor – who worked as a surgeon in the US – was arrested by the FBI.
It would later transpire that the doctor – who is now in federal prison in the US – had been accused of submitting false claims to health insurance companies. Needless to say, Jason and the team in Ghana knew nothing about any of it.
Having returned to Scotland (it was closer than Australia) to work out his next step, Wright then found himself trapped by the pandemic and unable to return to Australia.
As the trade began to reopen, he found himself gainfully employed as a consultant, helping venues to relaunch in the post-lockdown world, before a brief stint back in Oz.
He returned to Scotland full-time two years ago and has been consulting ever since – most recently with the Lost Shore surf resort outside of Edinburgh.
Boasting Europe’s biggest wave pool, Lost Shore’s core proposition is its inland surfing facilities, but the resort also offers a range of other activities including spa treatments, food and drink and accommodation.
Jason was recruited last year to overhaul the venue’s in-house food and drink offer (Edinburgh pizzeria Civerino’s also has a presence there).
Subsequently, Lost Shore’s in-house food and beverage offer was relaunched as Lost Food and Lost Tacos late last year.
The latter will be a regularly-changing concept that features different kinds of street food (next up is Lost Flock, focused on chicken).
“I came in and I sat and looked at the place and saw what it needed and, to be fair, it’s a lot of what I’ve been doing for the last ten years in Australia,” Jason told SLTN.
“At the end of the day it’s surf, it’s people who want to do an activity and then afterwards feel full but feel full on something that’s good and healthy – but they might want a burger as well.
“You’ve got to tick all the boxes, but at the same time it’s got to be very approachable. I think that’s what people crave nowadays, is approachability when it comes to food.”
The breadth of the customer base is another factor Jason had to consider when putting together the menus.
He said: “You wouldn’t realise what the clientele is in here. You would think it’s all going to be surfers, it’s all going to be sporty people. And it’s nothing like that.
“I’m looking around the restaurant today and it’s all families, young kids, or there’s older people here who are just out for the day for a coffee and a cake.
“Not a single surfer in here. And you get a lot of that. The clientele in here would surprise most people.”
Despite his globe-trotting past, Jason isn’t in a rush to move on from Lost Shore anytime soon, and he’s confident the venue has plenty of potential for the future.
“The sky’s the limit with this place,” he said. “It’s so good for Scotland and it’s so different. It’s a project you want to be involved in.
“And the F&B is a really exciting element of that. To build a sort of foodie hub outside of Edinburgh city centre is a great thing.
“If I can help it along the way then what a great thing for the future.”
