Contini Cannonball

Lovely ambience and décor with unique views out to Edinburgh Castle and has retained some of the features of the old school tiled staircases. Staff were friendly and professional. Had heard good things about the restaurant. My main criticism is that while the chef (s) can obviously deliver delicious meals, I suspect vegetarian dishes aren’t a priority. This is a shame as us veggies like to hang out with our meat-​loving chums and share in a fun, sociable dining experience. Sadly the advertised gnocchi (only vegetarian option) had already ran out by 1pm and the cheese soufflé alternative really felt like an afterthought and much lesser quality than the similarly priced meat dishes.

Had their Christmas menu which had an appetizer (amazing soup!), main dish (I had the fish also amazing!) and dessert (which was just ok :/​) besides the dessert the food was great and elegantly presented. The place is right in front of the castle so it has a great view and elegant atmosphere. Would definitely recommend it and would love to go back whenever I have the luck of visiting Edinburgh again!

You won’t regret going here for a spot of tea, and its conveniently located at the entrance to Edinburgh castle.

Excellent restaurant ! The service was impeccable and the food absolutely delicious! Plus, the manager spoke french with us… Great experience

Fantastic food all around. The haggis is delicious, the burgers melt in your mouth, and the gelato is near-​perfect!

I’ve been going to quite a few ‘Yelp’ events lately. One recent event took me to the newest foodie creation from the ‘Contini’ dynasty, Contini Cannonball. I love their Scottish Café in the National Gallery, so I was keen to see what they had on offer at their new premises on the Royal Mile. Another great thing about these Unilocal events is that we get to talk to the staff and even the owner and chef. I have to say, Contini were the most gracious hosts I’ve come across so far! They created a signature cocktail, had soft drinks, Hors D’oeuvres, gelato, tours of the building AND we met the lovely chef, Emma and the super friendly owner, ‘The’ Victor Contini.
I’ll start with the building. As you approach the Castle Esplanade it is the very last building on the left. It was built in the 1600’s as a private residence; over time, and with damage from fires, it was rebuilt into a tenement; used as a school, a hospital and more recently, offices for the Royal Military Tattoo who still own the building. The building is also famous (and named) for the cannonballs lodged in the outside wall. Despite rumours of battles and Bonny Prince Charlie, Victor admitted that the truth was that the cannonballs were height markers for the water pipes which brought drinking water into Edinburgh (it was funnier when he told it!). The building is set over several levels. The lower level is a gelateria, styled like an old fashioned ice cream parlour with pastel colours straight from an American diner in the 1950’s. The next level is a café for breakfast and lunch and the top level is a restaurant serving lunch, dinner and Sunday Roast.
Victor and the chef, Emma explained that nearly all of the ingredients used at Cannonball were Scottish and seasonal. That’s my kind of restaurant! I don’t follow a strict eating ‘ethos’ but if I had to adopt a label it would be something like ‘localtarian’. I try and eat local to reduce food miles for the sake of the planet — but also to ensure the food gets from farm to plate as quickly as possible to maintain nutrient content. Eating local also helps the local economy and in most cases ensures you are eating what is in season.
Emma did admit that this often brought her challenges in the kitchen, often having to adapt dishes at the last minute due to availability of ingredients. The samples I ate showed that she is definitely up for the challenge!
After meeting Victor and Emma, hearing about the history of the building, and learning how the restaurant is helping to support the Tattoo and Scottish food producers, I knew I wanted to come back for a meal with my husband.
Arriving for dinner, we were greeted by a shivering cold but still friendly hostess who took us past the side door I used previously around to a back entrance.
I never had a tour of the upper level so I was excited to see what I missed during the Unilocal event. We had parked the car in Grassmarket and walked up both Granny Green’s steps and Castle Wynd so we thought we had a good pre-​dinner workout before getting to the restaurant! But, we were now faced with even more steps — I’m definitely ordering dessert!
We arrived at the top, surprisingly not too out of breath. The restaurant is casual, bright and minimalist yet not modern. The décor still has a sense of history through the architectural features of the bar and the utilitarian lighting that could have been in the best Victorian schools.
Although I’m not a vegetarian, I don’t eat a lot of meat. When I do, I prefer to eat game or pasture fed meat. Sure, it’s more expensive but that’s why I don’t each much. Luckily there were lots of options that met my picky criteria as well as seafood and at least one vegetarian option per course. Everything was delicious from the complimentary bread, butter (Scottish of course) and olives (not so local) to our final, final dessert. The portions were not huge, and the ‘tower’ style presentation made it look like there wasn’t enough to fill the plate but it was very satisfying. After our first dessert, we were enjoying the view of the castle and just chatting in a lovely room so we ordered a second round of dessert — a cheeseboard to share. Well, I had to try the Scottish cheeses! I’m not a food critic so I’ll just let the pics do the talking…
Our Menu:
Complimentary Nibbles
Isle of Mull scallops with garlic butter, radicchio and lemon
Burnside Farm roasted pigeon with parsnip and honey purée
Chargrilled venison with spiced red cabbage, Scottish hedgehog mushrooms, celeriac purée, berry jus
Baked Peterhead lemon sole with Carroll’s heritage potatoes, Phantassie kale and spinach mustard cream sauce
Dark chocolate pudding served with iced chocolate and coffee meringue
Affogato Frangelico
Cheeseboard: Isle of Mull Cheddar and Lanark Blue, seasonal chutney, dried fruits and sourdough bread

This review is based on a Unilocal tasting event therefore it covers general impressions of the establishment rather than the full dining experience.
Contini’s appears to be aiming to be all things to all men. From £80 bottles of wine (& £5.50! pints) in the Cannonball restaurant to the £3.99 ‘poncho in a cannonball’ in the basement gelateria, everyone from fine diners to drenched tourists is currently catered for. Given its location hard by the castle the tourist market is one it can’t ignore but, whilst the ice cream on offer is as good as you’d expect from somewhere that prides itself on the Italian element of it’s background, the rather random selection of books on sale, the alcohol miniatures and their own brand coffee, jams etc. (undoubtedly not exclusive productions) rather dilute the effect of the well chosen and classier photographs adorning the walls. Popcorn economics seem to be in play with an ordinary bowl of porridge retailing at £4.
Admirably the restaurant aims to serve up only seasonally available locally sourced produce, meaning that currently there’s a lot of meat and few vegetables on the menu (no bad thing). As we were being advised of this though there was a confusing mention of products being shipped in from Italy which, whether for here or another Contini establishment, brought to mind the question of food miles and somewhat undermined the sustainability angle.
Situated on the second floor of the premises the Cannonball restaurant enjoys an uninterrupted view of Edinburgh castle out of its western windows. The restaurant is already heavily booked up during August as meals are included in a number of Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo packages. The irony being that with the erection and dismantling of the tattoo stands lasting for around five months the view will be rather obscured during that time. Winter is therefore the ideal time to go for dinner if you want to take advantage of the romance of the location, something I aim to get around to in order to fully round out this review.

A night to remember!
I headed along to Contini Canonball as part of a Unilocal dinner and to meet the amazing Jody B! We’d seen the menu in advance and to be honest I’d been dreaming about the food since the previous day.
On arriving we made our way up the steps to the second floor, passing by rooms marked ‘Headmasters office’ and such. This was our first clue to the quirky history of the building. After our coats were taken we were shown to our table, right by the windows which have one of the best views in the city. Check out Caz H’s picture as my photo skillz are nowhere near as good!
The décor is minimalist (ish). Still cosy with some required tartan and soft furnishing, but mainly monochrome with some pretty cool light fixtures.
Throughout our meal the staff were amazing. Chatty and lovely they made the meal even more enjoyable.
While we caught up the food was brought out. We started with a glass of prosecco and some bread, the Hebridean salted butter is a favourite of mine (well, salt and butter are both favourites of mine so I guess I’m easily pleased!) The soup was next, parsnip and gorgonzola. I make a pretty mean parsnip soup but this was on another level. Absolutely lovely creaminess, but not overly so, we still had room for what was to come. The haggis balls were up next with pickled turnip and mustard. Noms.
The best part of the meal for me was definitely the cod. I wolfed that down in under two minutes, along with the lemon kale and salsa verde. The cod was cooked really nicely, pan fried, and was just short of melting away when you put it in your mouth.
Desserts were up, Isle of Mull cheddar with dreid figs and seasonal chutney. I could have done with another slice of bread here, as I ran out pretty quickly. The cheddar was delicious. Finally, we finished up with Valrhona 70% chocolate and amarena cherry torte. This is where Sara’s ‘I don’t do sweet things’ comes in. I made it 75% through the cake which is a testament to how delicious it was as usually I get one bite and I’m done, but I could have eaten a million (no joke) of those cherries. A million. The accompanying shortbread with a wee bit of cream went down a treat too. I also went for a cocktail (when in Rome!), called Fifty-​Five Steps. Malt Whisky, rose essence and lemon (?) it was lovely! Very drinkable (dangerously so!)
After dinner, Victor came out to tell us the history of the building and I must say we were enthralled! I won’t give too much away but an interesting supernatural discussion followed!
Overall I left a happy, well-​fed, camper with stories to tell and a smile on my face, and that’s what a good dinner is all about! We also managed to find the canonball holes outside, facing the castle, which pretty much made my night!

I’ve been wanting to come here since they opened in August but just haven’t made it in, so what better reason to finally visit than for a 5 close Unilocal tasting dinner!
The food was fabulous, aside from the accompaniment to the fish was slightly too vinegary but that would be me being picky! Service was fantastic and the setting is gorgeous, though the tables are quite close together. I can imagine it would get a bit tricky to get in and out if the restaurant was full.
The thing that really sells the place has to be the astonishing view of the Castle! I don’t think you can get much closer unless you’re dining in the castle itself!
Victor was a great host and told us some great stories about the building’s history and even about their resident ghost!
All in all, a fantastic evening in a gorgeous setting. Look forward to heading back to try the gelataria!
Thanks to Jody for organising a fun little event!