Scottish chef Tomás Gormley has announced the creation of the Cardinal Kitchen Garden, a regenerative smallholding on the outskirts of Edinburgh, in collaboration with Bramblewood Farm.
Bramblewood is a family farm in Pathhead, Midlothian, dedicated to regenerative agriculture and supporting the local community.
At the Cardinal Kitchen Garden, Tomás and his team will work closely with Bramblewood Farm’s owner Nick Holmes to deepen the connection between the restaurant and its produce.
The garden’s first crops will include tomatoes, courgettes, beetroots, salad leaves and a huge variety of herbs and flowers, all of which will be transported from garden to plate and, over time, make up the majority of the fresh produce on Cardinal’s menus moving forward.
A low-waste ethos is also central to the Cardinal Kitchen Garden, with Gormley and the Cardinal team dedicated to composting all their spare organic material.
Gormley said: “We’re looking forward to bringing these ingredients into every part of our menu, working with Nick and the team to work with the land and become an important cog in the wider farm network.
“Restaurants aren’t inherently sustainable operations, so we’ll be looking harder at how we can cut waste at the restaurant in a way that benefits both us and the garden.”
The kitchen garden development follows the launch of Cardinal’s three-course Market Menu, a vegetable-forward, three-course menu that will highlight the bounty of the Cardinal Kitchen Garden.
