Locanda De Gusti

Locanda De Gusti, good food from Naples in Edinburgh. Authentic Edinburgh Italian restaurant. Chef Rosario Sartore. New location for Locanda De Gusti on Dalry Road. Locanda De Gusti Edinburgh.

Locanda de Gusti

Rosario makes the pasta using his own gluten-free recipe.

The desserts are gluten-free too.

http://www.locandadegusti.com

Locanda De Gusti – I still say si! Si! SI! | Eating Edinburgh

One of my favourite restaurants in Edinburgh to go to with ‘Science’ is Locanda De Gusti – I’ve blogged them a couple of times before (see bottom of page) and we adore Chef/owner Rosario’s fresh and amazing tasting fare, not remotely like any Italian restaurant I’ve eaten in, in the UK!

The interior is fresh and light and still full of character with a few key pieces from the Broughton Street restaurant on the walls, I actually prefer it here, it feels like you could be in a little bistro by the sea somewhere in Southern Italy.

The menu has changed, we’re terrible creatures of habit so this was a great way of us trying out some new dishes and, oh my!

Science always used to go for the mixed fish platter and although not on the menu there was a special of grilled seafood, including 1/2 lobster, langoustines, scallops, prawns and sea bass!

It was still amazing, I actually prefer the decor of the new restaurant, the staff were great and can’t recommend it highly enough!

Locanda De Gusti: Edinburgh Restaurants Review - 10Best Experts ...

Locanda De Gusti is a warm and friendly Italian restaurant on Dalry Road, in the west end of Edinburgh.

The chef and owner Rosario Sartore made his mark on the Edinburgh food scene over a decade ago... Read More Locanda De Gusti is a warm and friendly Italian restaurant on Dalry Road, in the west end of Edinburgh.

The chef and owner Rosario Sartore made his mark on the Edinburgh food scene over a decade ago with the popular La Partenope.

Locanda De Gusti is a smaller and more intimate affair, but lacks none of the charm of his earlier venture.

Locanda de Gusti (102 Dalry Road, Edinburgh) | The List

Dedication to the best ingredients and the joy of eating give this unassuming Italian restaurant a life-affirming flavour.

With its lacy lampshades, linen tablecloths and old tomato tins for candles, there’s a touch of elegant, olden-days trattoria to the place, albeit with a wry wink.

A seafood feast makes for a joyfully messy starter – mussels, clams, prawns and langoustines bathe in delicious winey broth with sweet tomatoes and garlicky toast.

Secondi are unsurprisingly rich and hearty – think lamb shoulder baked long and slow on the bone, or languidly tender aubergines in bright tomato sugo with melting cheese.

It’s rough around the edges, but consciously so, and underscored by good ingredients from both Scotland and Italy (such as wonderful Vesuvian tomatoes and Italian bitter greens), it’s all the better for it too.

Pizzeria 1926, Edinburgh, restaurant review - Scotsman Food and ...

Three waiters were working the floor, one of whom is the absolute double of the late cyclist Marco Pantani, while there’s also a young dude who was as smooth as peanut butter and as charming as the princiest prince in all of Disney.

It was a witch’s hat of a container that held two whole pale pink baby octopi (which tasted bewitchingly like crispy bacon), finger sized planks of pleasingly chewy centred breaded mozzarella, a shoal of silvery flanked whitebait, a bracelet’s worth of calamari links, battered cod and courgette hunks, potato croquettes, crumbed ascolana olives (stuffed with minced meat), a pool ball sized sun-dried-tomato-y arancini, and a wedge of lemon on the side.

It had a good billowy and crispy ring of crust, with soft dough in the centre and a dappling of ricotta, smoked mozzarella and slices of a feral and herby pork sausage.

After the lard fest that was the starter, getting through the flying-saucer-shaped deep-fried pizza fritta (£6.99) was a challenge, though we appreciated the golden and sea salted dough’s crispy sweetness.

Its roomy interior was upholstered with more ricotta, smoked mozzarella, cubes of sausage, stamps of cicoli (described on the menu as soft pork scratching, which seems like an oxymoron, but never mind), tomato and black pepper.

Locanda De Gusti: Edinburgh Restaurants Review - 10Best Experts ...

Locanda De Gusti is a warm and friendly Italian restaurant on Dalry Road, in the west end of Edinburgh.

The chef and owner Rosario Sartore made his mark on the Edinburgh food scene over a decade ago... Read More Locanda De Gusti is a warm and friendly Italian restaurant on Dalry Road, in the west end of Edinburgh.

The chef and owner Rosario Sartore made his mark on the Edinburgh food scene over a decade ago with the popular La Partenope.

Locanda De Gusti is a smaller and more intimate affair, but lacks none of the charm of his earlier venture.

Pizzeria 1926

Restaurant review: Locanda de Gusti, Edinburgh - The Scotsman

Locanda de Gusti 102 Dalry Road, Edinburgh EH11 2DW Bill please: Starters £3.95-£7.95
Main courses £6.95-£17.95
Puddings £4.95 Cheeseboard £5.95
 Rating: 7/10 However, a very rare exception to that pattern came when I reviewed Locanda de Gusti a little over three years ago, when the restaurant was at the bottom of Broughton Street, in what used to be the old Lost Sock Diner.

Passing the other day, it had been obvious that a lot of work was being done to turn the old Good Seed Bistro into Locanda de Gusti, so in every sense we felt that there was at least a fighting chance that the old Sartore, the passionate Neapolitan whose food once oozed Italian charm, would be in situ and that the place might soon reverberate to the sound of noisy Italian chatter, as La Partenope once did.

Yet in many ways that’s what we wanted: part of Sartore’s schtick has always been that his restaurants, unlike so many other Italian establishments, are resolutely authentic, and there’s no denying that Locanda de Gusti has the feel of a genuine Neapolitan restaurant.

I decided to start with the gatto, a potato cake with Italian pork sausage, bitter broccoli and provolone piccante cheese which is reminiscent of pizza rustica or casatiello, two other Neapolitan classics.

I’m not sure I can say the same about either of the accompanying side dishes, although to be fair we were flagging badly by now under the sheer weight of grub – potato cake with cheese and cream, and sweet chillies with Vesuvio tomatoes and basil is pretty heavy fodder, We rounded off with two puddings, neither of which totally hit the spot.

Restaurant review: Locanda de Gusti, Edinburgh - The Scotsman

Locanda de Gusti, 102 Dalry Road, Edinburgh Dinner for two, excluding drinks, £48.70 FOOD 7/10 AMBIENCE 6.5/10 TOTAL 13.5/20 The chubby-cheeked cherub on my shoulder had said I should give this Italian place, headed up by Neopolitan chef Rosaro Sartore, a couple of weeks to get established, but the gremlin on the other side explained that if a restaurant has opened its doors and is charging full whack, it should be good to go.

It was served with hot and sweet whole cherry tomatoes, a smudge of ragu, olive oil, and a few basil leaves.

The little pasta shapes, which resembled cartoon caterpillars, were swimming in a creamy tomato sugo, with a few shrimps in the mix, toms, and shreds of rocket.

My main of halibut (£12.95) was pretty good too, with a slab of white fish served on the bone, plus cannellini beans and tiddlywinks of asparagus, all in a pale yellow and salty broth.

This place has opened too early, and now I look like the bad guy because I couldn’t cut through the lamb and the mussels wouldn’t wake up.

Locanda De Gusti | Restaurants in Edinburgh

Chef Rosario Sartore is from Naples, so the cooking has a pronounced Southern Italian style, with lots of great seafood, while the décor puts diners in mind of a bright, polite farmhouse kitchen.

Bring an appetite, because on the menu you might find starters like sautéed seafood feast starring assorted crustacea, shellfish and squid with olive oil, garlic, parsley, chilli and crostini; or a rich egg frittata with courgette flowers, onion, provolone and smoked mozzarella.

Then there are pasta dishes and mains that could offer linguine with lobster, white wine, cherry tomatoes and chilli; maybe pork belly with sweet peppers; or charcoal-grilled rib-eye steak from Orkney with olive oil, rock salt and rosemary.

The restaurant does a pretty deft line in artisan pizza while dessert choices run beyond tiramisu and pannacotta to a traditional Neapolitan tart and cannolo Siciliano.

There is a separate tasting menu too, but only for parties of eight or more due to tthe restaurant's small size.