Contini George Street

Contini George Street is the flagship of a small Edinburgh restaurant group run by Victor and Carina Contini, third-generation Italian Scots whose families came to Scotland from rural Italy in the early 1900s. The restaurant fills a former 19th-century banking hall on George Street, with ceilings around 26 feet high and Corinthian columns, and the old bank vault now serves as a private dining room for up to 16 guests around an oval table.

The cooking combines produce from Italy and Scotland. The menu changes daily with seasonal ingredients from Italian markets, alongside fresh Scottish fish and shellfish and grass-fed Scottish meat. Homemade pasta is a speciality: the Contadino, orecchiette with house spicy sausage, porcini and cremini mushrooms, cream and Parmigiano Reggiano, has been on the menu since the restaurant opened. The breakfasts are well known too, including bacon focaccia made with bacon from Ramsay's of Carluke. There is a plant-based menu and a Bambini menu for children.

The restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner every day, with breakfast from 9am on weekdays and 10am at weekends, so it works for any meal. Booths suit couples and small groups, jazz plays in the background and a terrace opens in summer. Tables can be booked through the website, and gift vouchers are sold online and in the group's restaurants. The group also runs Cannonball Restaurant and Bar near the castle and The Scottish Café and Restaurant in the National Galleries on the Mound.

Contini suits families, couples and groups looking for a reliable, sociable Italian meal in the New Town. It is particularly useful for breakfast or a long weekend lunch. Its awards include recognition from Slow Food and inclusion in the Good Food Guide.

The restaurant is about a ten-minute walk from Waverley station, with tram and bus stops nearby. On-street parking is limited, so public transport or walking is easier; the St James Quarter car park is the nearest large option. George Street is lined with shops and bars, St Andrew Square is at its eastern end, and Charlotte Square is at the western end, so Contini fits easily into a day of shopping and sightseeing in the New Town.