I was desperate to visit this buzzy Edinburgh restaurant and, in the end, there were no surprises

Little Capo | Contributed

The colour you paint the exterior of your food business says a lot about your intentions.

Black says serious, edgy or sexy food for date night. Dark green is for those with a ‘nature to plate’ ethos. Pale green is for vegan. White is for bistros. Yellow is for sandwich shops. Blue is for seafood or chippies.

But pink. Well, that means you’re there to party.

Anyway, this four-month-old restaurant, on a New Town corner, is painted an irreverent salmon-y shade. Some may say it’s orange or terracotta, but they’re the ones who are colour blind, not me.

It’s impossible to miss, against the golden sandstone of this Georgian street.

The place, with a name that translates as ‘little chief’, is owned by a partnership, including Stuart McCluskey, formerly of The Bon Vivant Group; couple, Will and Jess Oxenham, from Sydney, Robbie McDermott of Lady Libertine and Bon Vivant, and head chef Jamie Broussine of Decanter and Bodega.

For those who remember this space as the Greek restaurant, Kuzina, it’s been completely transformed, and the room is now monopolised by a huge broad-topped tiled bar, which is flanked by seating.

There are a few tables, too, for those who find high stools aggravate their sciatica. That’s usually me, but I thought I’d be down with the kids, up in the - thankfully, padded - high chairs.

The menu is what they describe as ‘Italian-ish’. It wasn’t until we arrived that I had a proper look at it, as I couldn’t find the food list on their website, or on social media, and the menu wasn’t displayed in their window either, last time I passed by.

Anyway, this helps them retain an air of mystery and intrigue, I suppose. Thus, when they slid the menu in front of me, it was like reading a top secret charter, except one that really made my mouth water and my stomach rumble like a distant glass recycling lorry.

The three of us shared a trio of starters - well, the smaller ‘small plates’, which seems like a misnomer, as these portions were huge.

The house-baked focaccia (£2.50) was a total sensation - three large salty pads, with rivulets of olive oil trickling into every bath-sponge-like crevice.

We also had the burrata (£12). This consisted of tiny soft brunoise of beetroot, for an earthyness that went perfectly with the creamily decadent jiggly bubble of white cheese, as well as a feathery topping of pangrattato.

The third sharing dish was a portion of zucchini fritti (£6) that featured about 20 fat fingers of battered courgette, as well as a ramekin of aioli that had been coaxed to the highest echelons of bionic garlicy-ness with a squish of wild garlic oil. After that, I’m sure you could smell our halitosis from Stockbridge.

The small plates | Gaby Soutar

Our bigger plates came next.

The vegetarian option of ricotta gnudi (£15) was beautiful, with their marshmallowy middles as fluffy and white as Tunnock’s teacakes. They came with a topping of butternut squash in soft cubes, as well as a pulpy sauce, plus a generous handful of crumbled walnuts, grated pecorino and a huge dollop of mascarpone. I am definitely coming back to Little Capo for a redux rendezvous with that dish.

While, the ox cheek pappardelle (£15) featured thick tangled ribbons of pasta that were gummed together with rich beefy and sugo-sweet stewed meat, with a velvety blob of celeriac puree on top.

Since we were feeling greedy, we’d also gone for a side of crispy potatoes with rosemary salt (£6). These were cut into teensy little baby teeth sized cubes, which were as bronzed as the participants on A Place In the Sun, and beautifully seasoned.

We forgot to ask about pudding, since we were so stuffed.

Also, I was having so much fun in the Little Capo zone that I almost neglected to write down the name of my cocktail - the Amaro Sour (£12), which was pink, bitter, and frigid, just how I like my men.

Anyway, this place is everything I want in a restaurant. Consider me a signed up regular. Put a permanent reserved sign on one of those stools.

I love their big, bold and satisfying flavours, plus, it’s casual, buzzy, and we looked at the bill and thought, what the heck, how did we eat all that grub for barely £20 per head?

All you need to remember, when tracking it down is, think pink.

I was right about that colour choice, they’re definitely here to party.

Little Capo, 18 Howe Street, Edinburgh (0131-560 2909, www.littlecapo.com)