Pretty much any restaurant with serious ambitions will offer a tasting menu. It’s the chef’s chance to open up the culinary throttle and show his best dishes.

At the G&V Royal Mile Hotel Edinburgh, Head Chef Mattia Camorani has just unveiled his Italian tasting menu for the award-winning Cucina restaurant.

Culinary journey

Updated seasonally, the five-course menu is designed to take diners on a gastronomic journey through Italy with authentic dishes from the country’s key culinary heartlands.

The journey starts in the northern region of Emilia-Romagna, with its signature dish seppia e piselli con polenta bianca or cuttlefish and peas with white polenta.

After that, diners head south with tagliolini pasta from Ligura followed by Sicilian swordfish and a pork dish from Calabria. Diners will then finish up in Veneto with a classic Tiramisu.

Mattia said; ‘Our Cucina tasting menu is an exciting opportunity to showcase the restaurant’s offering, starting with an exploration of the diverse and iconic flavours of Italian cuisine.

Scottish Italian flavour

‘Working with suppliers here in Scotland, we have created a series of menus that perfectly marry the larders of Italy and Scotland together and which represent Cucina and its truly dynamic Scottish-Italian flavour.’

The five course tasting menu costs £50 per person. Wines can also be matched for each course by Cucina’s expert sommelier for an additional £25.

Opened in 2009 with Mattia at the helm, Cucina has long been a favourite with Edinburgh’s fans of Italian food.

We shot a video with Mattia where he showed us how to make a very luxurious asparagus salad.