Watch: New head chef to reopen Ox and Finch after first major revamp of neighbourhood favourite in 10 years

It all started with Ox and Finch, opened by chef Jonathan MacDonald in May 2014 and part of a new cadre of Glasgow restaurants pushing the boundaries of casual neighbourhood dining. The kitchen at Ox and Finch acted as a hothouse for developing local chefs, some went on to great things elsewhere, others went travelling and came back with the culinary building blocks that led to the team opening Ka Pao on Vinicombe Street before adding a version of the Southeast Asian restaurant in Edinburgh.

This month was something of a coming of age for the Glasgow restaurant group as they opened Margo, a big, bold declaration of intent in the city centre and an exciting new dining destination for the city. You can read what we thought of that here.

Ox and Finch is currently closed for renovations, due to reopen in early spring 2025. When it returns, the Kelvingrove restaurant will have a new kitchen, a new look and a new head chef.

The plan is to continue serving simple, seasonal and ingredient-led menus which combine big flavours with global influences; a great wine list and friendly, attentive service. The restaurant was awarded the Michelin Guide’s coveted Bib Gourmand within six months of opening and has retained the award every year since so there is a clear expectation of what comes next.

The creative small plates that have featured on the menu span an ever-changing roster of influences. Confit duck leg, peas, wild garlic and morteau sausage. A plump, hand-dived scallop dressed in miso butter and black garlic. Smoked haddock with herb gnocchi, leeks and cured egg yolk. Pineapple carpaccio, coconut, lime and tarragon curd.

When Jonathan laid down the vision for Ox and Finch with fellow chef Daniel Spurr, they had a clear idea of where this was going: "Both Daniel and I had a fine-dining background and we wanted to open somewhere that had those cooking credentials but that had a low-key, casual, neighbourhood vibe with no airs and graces. That’s the one principle that we have stuck with over the years."

Picking up the baton and driving the restaurant forward will be new head chef Craig Nelson. He comes from the Ox and Finch ecosystem as he was a sous chef at the restaurant before moving to London to take a role as sous chef at The Harwood Arms, London’s only Michelin star pub.

Ox and Finch was open seven days a week, welcoming around 300 guests a day for ten years. When Margo opened in the city centre, that created an opportunity to move bookings and staff over from Ox and Finch to allow for a proper renovation over the autumn and winter - the restaurant closed on Sunday 13 October.

The chance to keep what makes the restaurant work while giving the place a major upgrade is one the team have welcomed. While at Margo, Jonathan told me: “We are keeping the soul in it, because Ox and Finch has worked really well over the last ten years. The layout and the format will stay largely the same but everything will be replaced in terms of the interior furniture and floors. We will still keep the typical tenement features that make it what it is.

“We will freshen up front of house, the exterior we are redoing, putting in a new kitchen similar to what we have put in at Margo but on a smaller scale. We will be doing things that we didn’t have the budget for ten years ago but due to the success of Ox and Finch it deserves that investment so a great kitchen for the chefs to work in.

“Craig, who worked with us previously at Ox and Finch before moving to London and working as the sous chef at the Michelin star Harwood Arms is coming back to be our new head chef. He will be driving the menu there, it’s an exciting time.”