5pm Dining in Glasgow and Edinburgh keeps on adding new restaurants for you to browse and book. Recently, Piccolino in Edinburgh’s Tollcross joined the party.
Piccolino is a welcoming Italian bistro on High Riggs in Edinburgh’s Tollcross. Hung with hams, sausages and cheeses, it is a compact and laidback space.
Piccolino is the sort of venue that works equally well for a low key date; a convivial dinner with a group of friends or a catch-up with a pal you have not seen for a while.
Piccolino: simple Italian dishes
Piccolino doesn’t offer dozens of different choices. Instead, the kitchen concentrates on eight starters and around sixteen main courses. The emphasis is on keeping everything simple and letting the ingredients sing.
Popular starters include the marinated octopus salad, the Caprese salad and the bresaola – air-dried beef charcuterie – on a bed of rocket and Parmesan.
The main courses feature familiar dishes prepared as authentically as possible. For example, the ragu sauce is made with venison while the clam spaghetti is topped with grated mullet bottarga.
Away from the pasta, gnocchi and risotto options, more meaty choices might be the British sirloin served on rocket and Parmesan or the rolled chicken breast filled with mozzarella, sun-dried tomato and basil.
A seafood option might be the sea bass fillet filled with speck and tomato sauce while a typical veggie dish would be the roasted pepper filled with fregola, mozzarella and sun-dried tomato.
Pre-cinema bite?
Local attractions include the King’s Theatre; the Odeon, Cameo and Filmhouse cinemas plus – for sunny days – the Meadows.
You can book into Piccolino with 5pm Dining and the restaurant runs regular offers for 5pm bookers.
At the time of writing, you could book in today and bag a pasta dish, dessert and a glass of Prosecco for £13 per person.
Buon appetito!