Chef Tunde Abi.
Babatunde “Tunde Abi” Abifarin born in Nigeria, formed in Scotland's professional kitchens, founder of Farin Road.
From Nigeria to Scotland.
Chef Tunde was born in Nigeria and built his relationship with African food early through markets, family kitchens, ingredients handled daily and a culture where hospitality is measured in how well a guest is fed.
His professional career took shape in Scotland. Fifteen years and more inside premium hospitality gave him classical European cooking, contemporary technique, an intimate knowledge of Scottish produce, and the operational discipline of the professional kitchen brigade, service, consistency, standards.
Along the way the food he had grown up with kept asserting itself. Not as nostalgia, but as a body of technique with as much to teach a modern kitchen as anything he had learned in it: fermentation, smoke, bitterness, texture, heat used with intent.
Farin Road is what happened when he stopped keeping the two separate. He was named BIH Chef of the Year in 2022 and represented Scotland on Great British Menu.
While Nigeria remains central to his culinary identity, Chef Tunde's work increasingly explores the food cultures of East Africa — particularly Rwanda's ingredients, coffee, hospitality and potential for culinary tourism.
His wider interest includes the evolving food scenes of cities such as Lagos, Kigali and Nairobi, and the opportunities for African chefs, producers and hospitality professionals to create new forms of culinary exchange — collaboration rather than appropriation, learning rather than claiming, dialogue rather than monologue.
This is not expertise claimed across an entire continent. It is a genuine journey of discovery, shaped by respect for the people, ingredients and traditions that make each culinary culture distinct.
Rwanda holds a particular fascination. Its coffee culture, its agricultural renaissance, its growing reputation for hospitality and safety, and its position within East African food culture make it a compelling place for culinary exploration and collaboration.
Chef Tunde approaches Rwanda not as an authority but as a student — interested in Rwandan ingredients, hospitality traditions, and the country's potential for culinary tourism. The connection is framed as exploration, learning, collaboration and culinary exchange, not ownership of Rwandan culinary traditions.
The future of Farin Road is not a single restaurant in a single city. It is a culinary brand that connects West Africa, East Africa and Scotland through food, ingredients, hospitality and storytelling — building relationships, not just serving plates.
Through supper clubs in Edinburgh, chef collaborations in Kigali, private dining that brings Nigerian flavours to Scottish produce, and a growing Journal that documents the journey, Farin Road is building something that transcends the traditional restaurant model.
- Farin Road
- Founder & Chef
- BIH Chef of the Year
- 2022
- Great British Menu
- Scotland
- Culinary experience
- 15+ Years
Verified credits only. Further recognition will be added as confirmed.
“My grandmother's pepper and a Scottish langoustine are not opposites. They just had not met.”
Nigeria to Farin Road.
Africa
Nigeria
Born in Nigeria. A childhood relationship with African food, ingredients, markets and hospitality.
Scotland
Scotland
Arrival in Scotland, and the beginning of a professional culinary life in a very different larder.
Scotland
Professional kitchens
Years inside premium hospitality classical European cooking, contemporary technique, service and operations.
Africa
Supper clubs & pop-ups
African cooking returns to the centre of the work. Small rooms, long tables, a growing audience.
Africa
Farin Road
The concept takes its name and its shape: Africa, interpreted.
Africa
Tani Modi
A further chapter in the Farin Road story.
Scotland
Industry recognition
BIH Chef of the Year 2022.
Scotland
Great British Menu
Representing Scotland on Great British Menu.
Africa
The future
More countries, more stories, more tables. A permanent home in Edinburgh in time.