This friendly and unpretentious Italian restaurant has graced the Canonmills village for gey near 5 years, its windows pleasantly overlooking the Water of Leith. It has the atmosphere of an old fashioned Italian eaterie with its bare brick walls and ethnic cooking dishes on display on a wall, yet they do this without resorting to the throwback ingredient of iceberg lettuce in their salad!
The menu is unsurprising - garlic mushrooms, bruschetta, antipasto and other familiar dishes to start, a range of pizza and pasta , some meat and fish dishes like veal escalope with sage Parma ham and white wine or sea bass with white wine parsley and lemon juice sauce as mains. All these dishes are moderately priced as is their wine.
Unbeatable though, is their lunch menu. On offer is 2 courses for £5.95, any soft drink , any coffee and any pudding is £1 within that deal. A glass of red or white wine is a mere £2. Now that is great value.
Between my party of four, we had Bruschetta al Pomodoro (toasted garlic bread with fresh tomatoes and olive oil), Insalata italiana (salad with salami, boiled egg and black olives) and lentil soup, all generously portioned. The other choice was chicken liver paté, salad and toast.
Our mains were fish and chips with salad, pizza and pasta dello chef which today was a delicious penne Bolognese. Also on offer was spiced roast chicken with chips and salad.
This fine lunch, that had a real taste of home cooking, was finished with fine Italian coffee.
There is a welcoming, relaxed and unrushed atmosphere in La Fontana. That is not to say the service is unrushed. It’s just right.