La Favorita – a new menu – same excellent service and food
La Favorita on Leith Walk has launched a new menu and we went along to try it out. This third-generation Italian family restaurant is an institution in Edinburgh and has been busy expanding their brand through La Favorita Delivered over the past few years. It’s been ages since we visited their Leith Walk restaurant as laziness made it easier to have our pizzas delivered by La Favorita’s wee yellow Fiat 500’s that you see zipping about the city. A trip into town with a promise of pizza, pasta, and beer on a Monday night was the perfect way to start the week.
The restaurant was packed when we arrived with folks enjoying the 50% off the A la Carte menu deal available on the 6th and 7th November. If you haven’t signed up to La Favourite’s mailing list then do so now to make sure you don’t miss out on their great deals. The chefs were busy throwing pizzas in the open plan kitchen as we entered the restaurant and waiters bustled about between the tables. In typical Italian style, it feels like things are teetering on the brink of chaos, but diners are being served, drinks are arriving, pizzas are flying out of the kitchen, and everyone is happy.
The new menu is designed under the creative direction of the Vittoria Group food visionary, Spencer Wilson and includes lots of new dishes along with an increased vegan and gluten-free offering. I was also delighted to see that they have a good white pizza selection with no tomato sauce base. These pizzas are delicious and so common in Italy, but we struggle to find them in Scotland and are perfect for nightshade allergy sufferers.
Starters
For starter Raymond chose arancini served with a spicy tomato salsa dip. These golden crisp breaded rice balls were filled with lean steak mince, tomato with gooey mozzarella that oozed out with each bite. The chilli kick from the dip made it a rich, zingy treat – delicious.
I’m a bit of a mushroom fiend and will happily have double mushroom when dining Italian. I ordered the Bruschetta Tartufata as it seemed to fill the fungi brief perfectly. Two slices of toasted homemade sourdough bread towering with a selection of different mushrooms and melted gorgonzola cheese arrived. The huge portion was finished off with a good drizzle of truffle oil and at £6.50 it’s excellent value and perfect to share.
The main event
For his main course, Raymond decided to choose Tortelli Alla Zucca from the many pasta choices available. At £13.95 it’s one of the most expensive pasta dishes on the menu but does pack a lot in – most others were around the £11 or £12 mark. The rich egg pasta pockets are filled with pumpkin, parmesan and surprisingly amaretti biscuits. This is topped with roasted pumpkin and drizzled with honey and more amaretti biscuits. The menu did mention nduja sausage but this was nowhere to be found and would have added a welcome savoury bite – hopefully next time!
I decided to go Pizza Le Bianche and chose Caprino E Porri available in 10 or 14 inches (I was good and went for 10 inches at £10.50) This white base pizza comes with tangy goat’s cheese and creamy mozzarella topped with leeks, chargrilled spring onions and crispy pancetta. The pizza is then finished with a good glug of garlic oil. Their dough comes from Padova, Veneto and being the home of Scotland’s original log-fired pizza it’s then cooked with wood at 300 degrees to give that distinctive crispness and authentic smoky flavour – it was absolutely delicious.
Room for dessert?
After that feast, there was no room left for dessert, which means we will just need to go back sometime to sample them. They have an extensive selection of traditional Italian desserts, sundaes and ice creams plus a few more unusual ones – dark chocolate gnocchi anyone? La Favorita is a lively and fun place to visit with warm and welcoming staff. We finished our meal in traditional Italian style with an espresso and headed out into the cold night air with a warm, contented glow.
Recommended?
Many thanks to La Favorita for inviting us along to sample their new menu. The new menu pulls together the best of La Favorita and La Favorita Delivered’s menus providing a great choice of dishes for the whole family.
Book a Table
La Favorita
331-325 Leith Walk,
Edinburgh
EH6 8SA
We dined as guests of La Favorita but as always all thoughts and views are our own.