Victor and Carina Contini have shown Edinburgh what real hospitality looks like for two decades – Stephen Jardine

Stephen Jardine writes an unashamed love letter to Victor and Carina Contini

The current arguments about immigration are nothing new. The 1979 Monty Python film Life of Brian posed the question “what have the Romans ever done for us?” Not a lot was the answer… unless you count roads, medication, wine, clean water, education etc.

Here in Scotland, we need to add something else to that list, Victor and Carina Contini. Although not from Rome (and geography matters to Italians), their families have been contributing to our national life for a century.

Their ancestors came with nothing from rural Italy and turned to what they knew best. Opening cafes they served up fish and chips and ice cream to generations of hungry Scots. In 1934, that led to the creation of Valvona and Crolla, 90 years in business and still the UK’s best Italian delicatessen.

Then, 20 years ago, Victor and Carina took over a Georgian former banking hall in Edinburgh and turned it into an Italian restaurant unlike anything Scotland had seen before. Not only was it huge and grand, it was also uncompromising – no haggis pizzas, no cream in the carbonara. Instead the restaurant served up authentic Italian dishes featuring ingredients delivered direct from the markets of Milan.

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At the time, it was a big risk. Scots were used to spaghetti coming in hoops but the gamble paid off, the business thrived, becoming the first restaurant to be awarded authentic Italian status by the revered Accademia della Cucina.

The Continis have helped people realise that ravioli doesn’t have to come from a can (Picture supplied)

This weekend the Continis celebrate those two decades and it’s quite an achievement. They have survived the pandemic, changing tastes, rocketing rents and a Brexit vote that could have destroyed their business model. They have seen food inflation spiralling and Jamie Oliver come and go on the same street. Drawing on the ingenuity that brought their ancestors here in the first place, they have adapted to cope with all of this and prospered.

Building on their success, they’ve gone on to open The Scottish Café and Restaurant in the National Galleries of Scotland, followed ten years ago by Cannonball Restaurant in a landmark building near Edinburgh Castle. All receive supplies from their own kitchen garden on the outskirts of the city, producing salad leaves, vegetables and even honey.

As the big restaurant brands continue to target Edinburgh and flex their corporate muscles, it’s important that independent businesses survive. What makes them different is also what makes them special. After 20 years, they have an army of regulars including people who ate the never-off-the-menu contadino pasta as kids in 2004 and now visit as parents and feed it to their own children. The Continis know them all by name and see them as part of one big family.

When Victor is in one restaurant, impeccably dressed and charming the customers with a movie star smile, Carina will be in another pouring a glass of fizz for a birthday like the big sister everyone wished they had. If this sounds like a love letter to them, it unashamedly is. For 20 years, they have lifted the standard of hospitality in Edinburgh by proving quality and profit can go together.

They deserve their celebration this weekend and our thanks, for showing us that ravioli doesn’t have to come from a can and that looking after for your staff and customers still really matters.