RADIO FORTH AWARDS NAMES JACK ‘O’ BRYAN’S BEST RESTAURANT
Dunfermline’s Jack ‘O’Bryan’s Restaurant has been voted Best Restaurant in the annual Radio Forth Awards, held last night at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh.
The award, in association with Heritage Portfolio, was awarded to Jack ‘O’Bryan’s, which specialises in Iberian cuisine, based on votes by its listeners, who described Jack ‘O’ Bryan’s as their “favourite dining experience in the City, a warm, friendly place to dine, with exceptional staff and management.” Praise for the restaurant, which will celebrate its six year anniversary in Dunfermline’s Chalmers Street this coming January, continued with comments including “Jack O Bryan’s brings together the beauty of Scotland’s natural larder with the richness of Asian or Iberian cuisine. They aim to champion the very best produce from here in Scotland and to marry it with flavours, fragrances and textures from around the world.”
Jack ‘O’ Bryan’s is run by father and son, Bryan and Jack Coghill, who both attended the awards ceremony to collect the award, on behalf of their “hard working and committed team”, which includes Bryan’s wife, and Jack’s mum Michelle, and Jack’s wife, Sarah.
As well as mastering every section of the kitchen, 25 year old Jack, trained by his father Bryan as a chef, is a skilled pastry chef & chocolatier. Bryan, who also trained his father to be a chef, has forty years experience as a chef, restauranteur and hotelier, having run multiple hospitality businesses in the UK, and in Spain and Portugal, over his long career.
Jack’s skills have already been recognised by several top industry award schemes, including being awarded Highly Commended in the Scottish Excellence Awards, Young Chef of the Year category. And in Pete Irvine’s Top 100 of the Best Scottish Restaurants to try in 2024, as published in the Sunday Times, Jack ‘O’ Bryan’s was ranked number eight out of the 24 Best Restaurants in Central Scotland.
It was also a finalist in the Best Fine Dining Restaurant category in the recent Scottish Licence Trade News Awards.
This latest award comes at an exciting time for the business, with a second restaurant on the way in early 2025. Jack and Bryan recently announced that they had acquired the former Frankie & Benny’s restaurant beside the Dakota Hotel in South Queensferry, and are to reinvent the space as an upmarket, Hamptons vibe, fish & chip restaurant called “The Crab & Lobster Fish Shack”, due to open its doors in March next year.
“What can we say? Simply wow, and thanks again to the amazing listeners of Radio Forth, many of whom are clearly our loyal customers! We’re absolutely delighted to win Best Restaurant in these incredible Awards which span Business, the Community, and the Arts,” said Bryan Coghill. “We are thrilled with the fantastic comments made about the restaurant. We pride ourselves on out service, and on our consistency. This is what makes dining with us a rewarding experience time and time again. This will continue to be the case not only at Jack ‘O’ Bryan’s, but at our new fish and seafood restaurant which we are excited to unveil next year.”
“We’ve put Dunfermline on the map again, and have had a fantastic night here at the awards, mingling with all the other worthy winners, many of whom have incredible stories to tell. Radio Forth is to be commended in putting on such a great show, with so much entertainment and positivity. It was an honour to share the stage with performers such as Callum Beattie, who won Radio Forth Best Artist Award.”
Bryan finished by saying: “We’re looking forward to a very busy festive season here at Jack ‘O’ Bryan’s, with our festive menu in full swing. Then, it’s all hands on deck, excuse the pun, to get “The Crab & Lobster Fish Shack” opened, along with doing what we do best at Jack ‘O’ Bryan’s, which we know our customers love.”
Pics from the awards night are attached – 244 shows Byran and Jack Coghill with their award
958 shows Callum Beattie