This week we tried Edinburgh's newest Italian restaurant, which is in the heart of the city centre, and the latest arrival to the popular shopping location in town.
Assaggini at 66 Rose Street focuses on fresh and flavourful small plates in a spacious and colourful dining area perfect for afternoon lunch with friends or family dinners.
As soon as we walked in I noticed how gorgeous the bright and huge space is, with quirky artwork dotted throughout and plush interior design - the perfect backdrop for Instagram snaps with your friends.
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The restaurant was buzzing for a Friday night and had a real mix of customers including couples, families and tourists all happily chatting away while enjoying the tasty Italian cuisine.
The menu uses a blend of both Scottish and Italian ingredients, the pizza and pasta dishes are created to be shared and enjoyed with groups of friends and family.
After a light Friday lunch, we were ravenous and decided to push the boat, out ordering plenty of food - even the waiter thought it would be too much, but we weren't defeated.
The menu for both food and drinks is huge offering a lot of variety for fussy eaters and plenty of vegetarian options. Even the drinks menu was massive, with a brilliant cocktail list we couldn't resist.
To start we had two Canaletto's described as Prosecco with fresh raspberry, I assumed this would just be a glass of bubbles with a raspberry in it but was pleasantly surprised to be given a pink glass of fizz diluted with fresh raspberry purree which gave the prosecco a sharp kick.
It was the first drink at the end of a long week so we really enjoyed it and took our time looking at the menu which definitely added to the experience.
For the food, it's recommended to get a couple of things per person. The portions are bigger than a tapas dish but slightly smaller than a main dish so it can be a little hard to gauge but three mains between two is a good start.
We ordered two pizza and pasta dishes with a side of truffle fries and it was the ideal amount. I opted for a spicy salami pizza with fresh artichokes and black olives while my friend had a pizza with a pumpkin creme base - something neither of us had ever seen before.
Both pizzas were delicious, really authentic bases with big crispy crusts and plenty of rich sugo to soak them up. There was a unique selection of toppings with flavours I haven't tried before, so it was nice to have something a bit different.
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We also got two pasta dishes - the classic carbonara and a spaghetti al frutti di mare with fresh clams, prawns, mussels and chilli. We shared both and loved the silky delicate garlic and chilli sauce with the seafood.
After taking more time and finishing the bottle of red, we shared with the food we discovered we had space for desserts and had a cocktail to accompany them.
We ordered a tiramisu and a chocolate cheesecake. I'm not a fan of dessert usually but these were a great size - not too much and so creamy.
We had an old smoke whisky cocktail along with an espresso martini to wash the sweet desserts down and both were presented perfectly.
It was one of those brilliant nights with a good friend where you enjoy the food, drink and company so much that suddenly you look up and realise it has been three hours and the restaurant is basically empty.
Assagani is a really friendly Italian with wonderful, kind staff, brilliant service and really reasonably priced food if you are looking for a classic Italian dinner out.
I'm already thinking about what I would choose next time as we will definitely be back. You can find out more and book here.
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