About Us
Welcome to Maison Bleue
The home of a unique and eclectic mix of French, North African and Scottish cuisine, served in our wonderfully relaxed and friendly Restaurants in Edinburgh.
Our flagship restaurant, Maison Bleue on Victoria Street, opened in 1998, and has been a firm favourite amongst restaurants in Edinburgh for many years. Old medieval archways and modern neon signs blend in to create a unique and ambient setting housed in a beautiful historic building, with stunning 15th century archways, victorian stairways and nooks and crannies. Our eclectic interior is mirrored in our menu. The freshest, locally sourced ingredients create twists on classic French dishes, tasty, rustic tagines and fragrant South East Asian curries. There is a dish on our menu to make everyone smile.
Maison Bleue Le Bistrot opened in April 2016. The ‘wee sister’ of Maison Bleue, is situated up the road in the charming neighbourhood of Morningside. It shares our recognisable quirky, eclectic décor inside, with the addition of a lovely outdoor area where you can sit and enjoy a glass of wine and cheese plate in the sunshine. The menu has, as the name suggests, a more French bistro feel, with classic favourites, such as Croques Monsieurs, Cassoulets and Moules Frites.
Maison Bleue at Home, opened it’s doors in September 2016, with a very different agenda to most restaurants in Edinburgh. Dean Gassabi (owner of Maison Bleue) and the homeless charity Social Bite, joined forces to open a restaurant with a social conscience – 100% of the profits go to charity.
Set in the bustling West End of Edinburgh, in a stunning open plan dining room, diners here can enjoy all the culinary delights that Maison Bleue has to offer and our fantastic cocktail menu whilst benefitting from the ability to effortlessly ‘Pay it Forward’, with a coffee, lunch or dinner for a homeless person to later enjoy in the restaurant. For years our Victoria Street restaurant has borne the neon sign with our company values of ‘food first, then morals’. Our collaboration with Social Bite to create HOME is the perfect example of our own home grown values put into perfect practice.
The Inspiration
Acclaimed restauranteur, Dean Gassabi, opened Maison Bleue back in 1998 following a 3 year stint running various ‘Pierre Victoire’ franchises around the UK. His love of cooking stems from his North African background, and the incredible home made dishes he grew up with, cooked daily by his mother and aunty. This flavoursome cuisine, using the freshest ingredients straight from the markets in Algiers, instilled in him an undeniable passion for cooking and creating dishes which burst with flavour and authenticity. This is mirrored in his menus, as he likes to call his style of cooking ‘French Colonial’, a theme which encompasses not only North African dishes, but Creole and Asian cuisine as well. Dean has gone on to open 2 more restaurants in Edinburgh, Maison Bleue Le Bistrot and Maison Bleue at Home as he grows his family business, and he still enjoys cooking in each of these restaurants and creating new and exciting seasonal dishes with a twist!
