Chef of the Week: Chef Roberta Hall-McCarron Edinburgh, UK
From Michelin-starred kitchens to running a three-restaurant group in Edinburgh, Chef Roberta Hall-McCarron’s career reflects both technical precision and entrepreneurial drive. As the chef-owner behind The Little Chartroom, Eleanore, and Ardfern, she has created a portfolio of concepts that balance accessibility with high-quality, seasonal cooking.
Here, she shares insights on scaling a restaurant business, staying creative, and shaping a modern kitchen culture.
1. You started working in professional kitchens at just 16. What first drew you to cooking as a career?
I always loved cooking at home and also enjoyed it at school. It steadily became my biggest passion – and still is now. I just fell in love with it!
2. Your career has taken you from Dubai to Michelin-starred kitchens in Scotland. Which experiences most shaped your cooking style?
My cooking is shaped by every job that I’ve had, but none more so than my time at The Kitchin in Leith. I love their philosophy; the attention to the provenance of their produce and the way it shines a light on Scotland. The cooking style is very British. It’s all about considered combinations and classic dishes. I owe a lot of how I cook to my time spent there.
3. You’ve built three distinct concepts (The Little Chartroom, Eleanore, and Ardfern) all within a very small geographic footprint. How do you ensure each restaurant maintains its own soul and target audience without them cannibalizing one another?
They all offer something unique. The feel of each restaurant is different from a vibe and design standpoint. The food is also very varied and even more so with the recent changes at Eleanore, and so is the price point which draws in different demographics.
That being said, there is still a similar core at the heart of each restaurant. They signify a similar thing: the nature of the experience, the service, and the overall quality. Our core goal is to feel relaxed, friendly and warm. Geographically, Leith is a great place to be. It has all sorts of business and a strong sense of community. I’m very pleased that it is now getting the spotlight it deserves.
4. The Little Chartroom is described as your culinary playground. As the administrative weight of three businesses grows, what rituals or habits do you use to protect your time for pure, unadulterated creative experimentation with the Scottish landscape?
I don’t have any specific rituals or habits. I divide my time between the three businesses and a lot of my inspiration and ideas come from conversations with the team about our dishes. We then work on them together and build time into the day to work on new ideas. We’re always chatting about ideas before produce comes into season so that we have a plan for as soon as it arrives.
5. Eleanore is reopening with a renewed focus on a relaxed neighbourhood bistro concept. What inspired this shift away from the tasting menu format?
It was driven by current eating habits, and the desire to be inclusive and accessible. People don’t want to sit too long, they want flexibility. We sought to create something more casual and to offer more choice to those who don’t necessarily want to eat as much. Another key incentive was to bring back the feel of the old Little Chartroom – for us it feels like coming home. The change has also created more of a distinction between the three restaurants and diversified what we offer.
6. Scotland has an incredible natural larder. Which local ingredients are you most excited to cook with right now?
Currently I am loving all the asparagus that is coming in and I am excited for all the berries that are on the horizon – gooseberries, raspberries and strawberries, elderflower should be starting soon too.
7. For readers unfamiliar with Scottish cuisine, which traditional Scottish dishes would you recommend they try at least once?
Haggis! There are so many ways to prepare it which is not just with lamb, and it’s a great way to use up as much of the animal as possible. Rather than a dish, I would also recommend trying Scottish produce such as shellfish from the West Coast.
8. What is one dish currently on your menu that best represents your cooking philosophy?
We currently have a wonderful duck dish that’s on the menu. It’s St Bride’s Farm duck breast, chou farci, BBQ beans, hashbrown and apricot. We buy whole ducks and use every single part. The chou farci is stuffed with the legs in a French style. We also use the livers to make parfait at Eleanore and Ardfern, and bones are used for stock. Hash browns are a firm favourite across all three restaurants.
9. Many chefs struggle to step away from the pass. What has been the biggest challenge in shifting your mindset from running a kitchen to managing a group, and how do you decide which kitchen needs your physical presence on any given night?
It’s an ongoing process; I try to spend at least one day at each place every week to be constantly engaged with the sites. However, I still spend most of my time at The Little Chartroom.
The biggest challenge is to spread out time and strike a balance. To remember the need of each particular place you have to really immerse yourself, but you also need to be able to shift focus. I have to be mentally engaged with all the other sites even when I am physically somewhere else.
10. You opened your first site in 2018 and your third in 2024. If you could go back to yourself on the opening night of The Little Chartroom, what is the one piece of “opening day” advice you’d give yourself that you only learned by the time Ardfern
There is no such thing as a perfect restaurant, so there is no use in getting bogged down in the small things.
Each opening was so different! When we opened the original Little Chartroom we were just three people, but at Ardfern we were a whole team. I guess I would tell myself to soak it all up. To relax and enjoy the process.
There is no such thing as a perfect restaurant, so there is no use in getting bogged down in the small things. Just look at the bigger picture and lean into the moment!
11. Despite the progress in the industry, women remain significantly underrepresented at the Head Chef and Executive levels. Looking back at your journey from age 16 to being a multi-unit owner, what do you believe is the primary barrier preventing more women from reaching the top tier of ownership, and how are you fostering a different culture in your own kitchens?
In our kitchen we believe in equal opportunity for everyone. It is still a male dominated industry and women potentially don’t see it as inviting. There is also a lack of support if you want to have a family and there needs to be a better system in place.
That being said, we are seeing more women in leadership positions now and that is having an effect. The last three people I interviewed and hired for chef roles were women. It’s now becoming a more regular occurrence for the services to be 75% female, foh and boh.
12. For home cooks who want to elevate their everyday cooking, what is one simple technique or habit they should adopt?
Work tidy and be organised. Have your containers to hold your mise en palace and remember to clean your board. And crucially, enjoy it!
Featured photo credit: Emilia Claudia
Chef Roberta Hall-McCarron | Instagram
The Little Chartroom | Instagram
14 Bonnington Rd, Edinburgh EH6 5JD
