Leonardo DiCaprio visits Edinburgh, eats macaroni cheese

Have you ever wondered what a megastar like Leonardo DiCaprio would eat if he came to Scotland for the day? Really? OK. Mac'n'cheese, apparently

Feature by The Skinny | 17 Nov 2016

Oscar-winning Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio followed in the footsteps of his old pal George Clooney today when he braved a chilly afternoon in Edinburgh – if you’ve seen The Revenant, you know DiCaprio can handle the cold – and had lunch at one of the city's socially conscious eateries.

In the Titanic and Wolf of Wall Street star's case, he visited Home on Queensferry Street, a chic new Edinburgh restaurant that donates 100% of its profits to charity and feeds members of the homeless community once a week – made possible by ‘pay it forward’ contributions from diners.

What does one of the world’s most famous movie stars have for lunch, you might ask? DiCaprio decided to eat like a local.

The menu, specially designed by chef Dean Gassabi, founder of the Maison Bleue restaurants, has a Scottish theme. The three-course menu included a red deer carpaccio starter, followed by a choice of North Sea halibut, Scottish Borders lamb tagine or mac and cheese with wild mushroom and black truffle shavings for main, and passion fruit key lime posset for dessert. Delightfully, DiCaprio opted for the mac'n'cheese. 

“We wanted to provide a menu that showcased the best of Scottish produce and local suppliers,” said Gassabi “ as well as bringing Mr Dicaprio all the elements that make the Maison Bleue restaurants so successful – fresh ingredients, high quality cuisine and excellent customer service.”

 Michael Caton-Jones on schooling a young Leonardo DiCaprio

The chef says that Dicaprio looked relaxed. “He was happy to chat to everyone and find out about the work we do here to help combat homelessness, and tell us about his work on climate change. He also said the food was lovely." Given that DiCaprio has been known to dine on salmon plucked straight from the river and chow down on raw bison heart, we're not sure how much of an endorsement this is. 

In all seriousness, though, it’s heartening to see DiCaprio shine a light on this socially conscious eatery by paying it a visit. As well as the “pay it forward” scheme, the restaurant will also provide training and employment programmes for members of the Social Bite Academy, a four-year paid course for homeless people.

“For Leo to choose to highlight this initiative whilst in Scotland is very humbling and we are grateful to him for raising the awareness,” says Gassabi.

For more information on Home, go to home-restaurant.co.uk, and keep your eye on theskinny.co.uk/news for more news of DiCaprio's Scottish escapades