The Story Behind Nectar

Like many stories that began during COVID, ours started in close quarters.

During lockdown, everyone who now works at Nectar found themselves living together in the same flat. With time on our hands and the world temporarily paused, conversations naturally turned inward. Like so many others, we began asking ourselves what we wanted to do differently with our lives.

With a strong family history in hospitality, opening our own place was not a far-fetched idea. In many ways, it felt inevitable. What we did not yet know, was how clearly our individual paths would come together.

A Shared Background, Different Strengths: About Nectar

Each of us arrived at Nectar with a different skill set, shaped by years of experience across hospitality and beyond.

The Nectar Team

Margarita

Our head chef, Margarita, has spent years building her career in some of Edinburgh’s most respected kitchens. She has worked in a number of high-end restaurants across the city, including time as sous chef at Fava, head chef at Wine & Peach, and many years at Locanda de Gusti.

Her passion has always been food. Not trends, not shortcuts, but flavour, balance and the quiet satisfaction of creating something genuinely good. Nectar’s kitchen is built on that foundation.

Eirini

Eirini brings the front of house to life.

With a hospitality degree and experience across a wide range of venues, from fine dining restaurants to more relaxed settings, she understands service at every level. Her strength lies in people. She has an instinctive ability to make guests feel comfortable, welcome and genuinely looked after.

If you have ever visited Nectar and left feeling lighter than when you arrived, that is no accident. Making people happier when they leave than when they came in is something Eirini takes seriously.

Panos

Panos has worked behind the bar for as long as he has been legally allowed to work.

His experience stretches across nightclubs and fine dining restaurants, from the Greek islands to Dublin’s high streets. He has seen every side of bar culture. What he always missed, however, was freedom. The freedom to build menus from scratch, to experiment, and to create drinks that genuinely surprise people.

At Nectar, that space finally exists. It is where craft, technique and creativity come together behind the bar.

Panos, Owner, Bar Manager

Chris

And then there is me. Chris.

I have worked in coffee shops, nightclubs and restaurants, but my background is marketing. I come from advertising brands and products, not running a restaurant day to day. What has always driven me, though, is the desire to build something of our own.

Nectar is the first place where all of that experience has come together. Strategy, storytelling, hospitality and creativity, working as one.

Chris, Owner, General Manager

From Idea to Reality

Over time, the idea of Nectar solidified.

We spent countless sessions refining what we wanted to create. The food, the drinks, the atmosphere, and the kind of place we wanted to be part of. One thing was always clear. We wanted to be in a location where our food would be understood and appreciated.

Then we stepped into 73 Broughton Street.

Panos and I visited first. There was something immediate about it. The walls, the layout, the couches. We could see what it already was, and what it could become. It felt right in a way that is difficult to explain but impossible to ignore.

Once the space became ours, everything started to fall into place. Years of ideas suddenly had a home that suited them perfectly.

Finding Our Place on Broughton Street

What has meant the most to us is how warmly Broughton Street has welcomed Nectar.

This is a street with its own rhythm, its own identity, and a strong sense of independence. Becoming part of it is something we are proud of and grateful for.

Seeing familiar faces return, neighbours recommend us to friends, and the space slowly fill with regulars has been incredibly rewarding.

Nectar was born from uncertainty, shaped by experience, and built through collaboration. Today, it is a place where food, drinks and people come together naturally.

And this is only the beginning.