Gemma Dallyn brings Highland seasonality to Eleanore’s Magic Dinners

On 1 December, Gemma Dallyn arrives at Eleanore in Edinburgh to cook an evening that distils everything her kitchen has come to mean: seasonality uncompromised, a respect for provenance that reaches back to Exmoor soil and Highland slopes, and a generosity in the passing of knowledge to younger hands.

Raised on her family’s farm on the Exmoor coast, Dallyn developed an intuitive understanding of land and season that would come to define her approach. Her work now centres on wood fire cooking, on intimate ingredient led menus that move with the rhythms of Scottish growing and harvesting. What began as supper clubs and collaborative events across Perthshire has crystallised into a philosophy of compassionate hospitality: growers and producers as partners, young chefs as minds worth investing in, food as the thread that binds community.

The set menu unfolds through fermented summer harvests and smoked cod’s roe, before pivoting to venison capelletti with Jerusalem artichoke and fermented chilli. The main course brings Logiealmond Estate partridge with salsify, kalettes and elderberry, served alongside winter chanterelles and barley. Dessert arrives as a heather honey brûlée tart with anise hyssop ice cream.

At £75 per person, twenty per cent of each ticket supports Magic Breakfast, the UK school breakfast charity. The evening welcomes those requiring dietary adjustments with advance notice. Book through Eleanore’s website.

Imagery courtesy of Eleanore (@eleanore_leithwalk).