Locanda de Gusti

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

A Neapolitan kitchen table in Edinburgh

Chef Rosario Sartore grew up in a large family in Naples, where daily life revolved around the kitchen table. Taught to cook by his mother and aunt – who took the young Rosario on their trips to the market each morning – he carried those habits north to Scotland. At Locanda de Gusti on Dalry Road, he and his wife Maria have built a restaurant that feels less like a dining room and more like an extension of that family home: warm, unpretentious and rooted in the food Rosario ate as a child.

Honest ingredients, made from scratch every day

The philosophy is straightforward. Artisan products imported directly from Italy are paired with the finest meat, fish and seafood that Scotland's waters and farms can offer. Everything is made from scratch daily, which means the menu shifts with what Rosario finds at the market each morning – and there is always something new to discover on a return visit.

The seafood and fish dishes are the heart of the operation. The à la carte sample gives a clear sense of the kitchen's ambition: Paccheri – tubes of fresh pasta from Gragnano tossed with a velvet Scottish crab bisque and finished with handpicked white crab meat; All'Astice – linguine with the same bisque base, Piennolo tomatoes and half a fresh Scottish lobster; A'Pescatora – calamarata rings with Scottish mussels, baby clams, prawn, langoustine and calamari in a light crustacean bisque. The raw materials are explicitly local – Scottish crab, lobster, langoustines – while the technique and seasoning are unmistakably Southern Italian.

Starters lean on quality DOP and IGP ingredients: buffalo mozzarella from Campania, burrata from Puglia, Melannurca vinegar from Campania, Mediterranean octopus. Meat dishes – braised shin of beef, lamb shoulder ragù, rare-breed pork – are treated with the same care, slow-cooked and built around San Marzano tomatoes and fresh herbs.

The Fai Tu experience and private dining

For groups, the Fai Tu tasting and sharing menu brings the trattoria spirit to the table in full: a procession of hot and cold starters – sautéed mussels, clams, grilled scallops, crab salads, Italian cheeses – followed by pasta and main courses, all chosen to reflect what the market offered that day. It is the format that earned Locanda de Gusti its Gambero Rosso two-fork recognition, the Italian food guide's stamp of approval for authentic quality outside Italy. Private dining for between 22 and 35 guests is also available, with the same market-driven approach.

The room and the welcome

A five-minute walk from Haymarket Station, the restaurant is small and neighbourhood in feel – deliberately reminiscent of the trattorias of Naples rather than a formal dining room. Rosario and Maria's hospitality is described simply as genuine Italian, and the kitchen accommodates a wide range of dietary needs: a high proportion of dishes can be made gluten-free, including desserts, and vegan adaptations are available on request.