The restaurant offers Edinburgh foodies casual dining and a licensed bar, centred around an open-plan kitchen, with expert wok chefs cooking to order and using fresh and seasonal produce.

The Edinburgh restaurant features Scotland’s very first example of double-decker restaurant seating – inspired by a setup popular across Southeast Asia.

Also offering food on the go, it serves a selection of traditional Thai and custom dishes, including pad Thai, papaya salad and its popular Thairatcha wings – with customers able to customise dishes to their preferred spice level.

The launch is an exciting moment for Uzma and Sachin Pattani, who brought the 300-outlet “Thai Express” brand to the UK in 2012.

The St James Quarter restaurant joins similar locations including Croydon, Wembley and Birmingham.

The opening marks the moment Sachin, 42, who has overseen the £500,000 transformation of the site, hands over operations to his 35-strong team who will oversee the day to day running of the venue.

He said: “Our launch events could not have been more successful and we are delighted to have started serving up our world-famous Thai food to the Edinburgh public. As our first ever ‘Kitchen’ – a lot of care and hard work has gone in behind the scenes to make this our most creative and extensive venue so far.

“We’re fiercely proud of the business we have built in the UK so far and are looking forward to offering our Scottish customers delicious Thai flavours in a special setting that we hope will get people talking.”