BEST ITALIAN RESTAURANT IN EDINBURGH

A VIBRANT, BUZZY, AWARD WINNING ITALIAN FAMILY RUN RESTAURANT IN ONE OF EDINBURGH’S MOST BEAUTIFUL ROOMS. THIS FORMER BANKING HALL IS MODELLED ON A FLORENTINE PALAZZO AND DELIVERS EVERYTHING YOU WANT FROM A FABULOUS, AUTHENTIC CONTEMPORARY ITALIAN RESTAURANT.

LISTED AS ONE OF EDINBURGH’S BEST ITALIAN RESTAURANTS 2017/18 BY THE LIST EATING & DRINKING GUIDE

Our beautiful, vibrant buzzy Italian restaurant situated in one of Edinburgh’s most beautiful rooms. This former banking hall is modelled on a Florentine Palazzo and delivers everything you want from a fabulous, authentic contemporary Italian restaurant.

We source our produce direct from the markets in Italy and change our menus every 6 weeks with the seasons.  Our homemade pasta is made fresh every morning with our delicious Puglian focaccia. Our food is perfect for sharing. A fun, informal and very special family restaurant.

DINE WITH 400 YEARS OF EDINBURGH HISTORY

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Beautiful Italian food

We buy from over 70 Scottish fresh food suppliers and about 20 Italian fresh food suppliers. The vast majority of our fresh ingredients do come from Scotland but that little bit of Italian sunshine boosts our immune systems and makes us feel good through the winter months and gives us great diversity through the rest of the year.
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Fresh Fish landed on Scottish shores

The new Contini George Street menu features dishes such as Salame Calabrese with roasted aubergine, mint, crème fraiche and pistachio crumb; cod poached in cold pressed olive oil with fennel, samphire and chili; and a raw cauliflower, porcini and lemon oil salad with breadcrumbs and Venetian spiced walnuts.
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Best Pasta in Edinburgh

Our homemade pasta is made fresh every morning with our delicious Puglian focaccia

FOOD THE WAY ITALIANS EAT NOW

Explore contemporary Italian cooking in Edinburgh

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“When we first opened, our menu was a reflection of the Italian food passed on to us from our grandparents – hearty meals like lasagne, pizza, and carbonara. While these are all delicious, the way people eat has changed.

Now, guests want to try lots of different dishes, sharing them with friends rather than ordering a traditional starter, main course and pudding. So we have created a menu with sharing in mind, featuring fresh, delicious flavor combinations, which still showcase the very best Italian ingredients and the pick of Scotland’s larder.”

Our ethos explained

FOOD PHILOSOPHY

Good food that makes you feel even better when enjoyed with friends and family. It’s good food because it’s good for the environment, its good for the producers and its good for our health and well being.

Happy food has been produced in the best possible way. It makes us happy when we eat it because it tastes good and we know that everyone else connected with it is happy too.

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At Contini we know how important good relationships. When it comes to hospitality and great food we treat everyone like friends and our friends like family.

Our award-winning seasonal food, stunning venues and friendly professional service will help impress your clients, build relationships and inspire your organisation. From corporate lunches to VIP events, we will make your business shine.

Is it exclusive use with modern Italian dishes made of locally sourced ingredients from artisanal suppliers.

Only the finest ingredients, presented and tasting amazing

Our mouth-watering Italian dishes include the finest seasonal ingredients at your event. If it’s Birthdays, Graduations, Reunions, Company celebrations we can deliver.

Your exclusive use of the room is complimented with dishes made of locally sourced ingredients from Italian artisan suppliers. This use of local suppliers and talented chefs brings you an Italian dining experience.

WHAT IS MODERN ITALIAN FOOD AT CONTINI GEORGE STREET LIKE?

At the very center of our heart and soul is the desire to take fantastic, sustainable, fresh ingredients and make them into Italian expressions of exquisite taste.

Good food is not only good because it tastes amazing but it’s good for the environment, its good for the producers and its good for our health and well being. This was one of our underlining motivations for building up our Kitchen garden and local network of suppliers, fresh quality ingredients, cared for with integrity.

Happy food has been produced in the best possible way. It makes us happy when we eat it because it tastes good and we know that everyone else connected with it is happy too.

Happy food is real food that has been simply prepared, sustainably produced and then leisurely and enjoyably shared. Our quest for happy ingredients determines what we are aiming for across all our business ventures.

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Simple

The best ingredients allow recipes to be simple and straightforward. The result is honest food, simply prepared. We want to eat food our great grandmothers would recognise.

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Seasonal

Local is best but sunshine makes us smile. The best tasting, freshest food is local and seasonal. But we love the sunshine taste of Italy to help us feel good all through the seasons. We want to enjoy the shifts in the seasons and what they bring to our table. This also means less energy used in food production, transport and storage.

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Italian Scots

We buy from over 70 Scottish fresh food suppliers and about 20 Italian fresh food suppliers. The vast majority of our fresh ingredients do come from Scotland but that little bit of Italian sunshine boosts our immune systems and makes us feel good through the winter months and gives us great diversity through the rest of the year.

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Pleasure

Food is one of life’s great pleasures. We want to enjoy food wholeheartedly and to celebrate the joys of eating and sharing good food. We live busy lives filled with different demands and pressures, so eating meals with those we love forces us to slow down and remember what is important.

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Sustainable

‘Sustainability’ is a hugely complex idea but in terms of Happy Food, we are concerned for the well being of the natural world and the responsible use of resources. We are committed to using food produced in a responsible and sustainable way. We want everyone in the food chain to be treated well. Any produce in our business that comes from further afield is always done as sustainably as the extended food miles will allow. We recycle all of our glass, cardboard, paper, cooking oil. We’ll soon have all of our food waste collected and used for compost. All of our paper is from sustainable sources and we use low energy light bulbs!

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Community

Food connects people. We want to build community through food and establish a network of suppliers who are striving for environmental well being and delicious flavour. We especially want to celebrate small-scale producers and artisan production. We want to link taste and pleasure to the quest for a better food system here in Scotland. Making these connections helps us all to learn more about what we are eating and and to increase our understanding of the earth we live on and its seasons.

Award winning

When we say award winning restaurant, we really mean it

We are very proud of our restaurants and delighted when they are noticed and praised! We are always trying to improve your dining experience. Here are some of the awards for our George Street restaurant…

  • HITLISTED 2017 / 18 – The List Eating & Drinking Guide – Best Italian for Contini George Street
  • Chefs Alliance Member
  • CIS – Winner 2013 sustainable restaurant of the year
  • Slow Food Member
  • Where Chefs Eat – recommended
  • Trip Advisor Excellence Award
  • The List, Hit listed 2011 – 2013
  • Scottish Chefs Association

Find Us

Contini George Street
103 George Street
Edinburgh
EH2 3ES

Phone: 0131 225 1550

Hours:
10am to 21:30pm