Review: Enjoying the best Italian food at home

I can manage no more of the impeccable dessert – for now, at least, the rest is polished off the next day – but it has made me feel like I’m in, say, Florence rather than my flat on a Friday night.

The meal is also the most meticulously organised but personable home delivery I’ve had yet.

You order from Contini’s website, which has a selection of changing set menus and individual dishes, complete with detailed explanation and back story, a selection of wines and beers and even a bag or box of Italian fruit and veg. It gets major points for providing photos of the food in takeaway containers.

I opt for Carina’s favourite July menu – focaccia, a starter of courgette salad, main course of aubergine and Errington’s ewe’s milk ricotta ravioli, and pudding of baked figs with Errington’s goat’s cheese and Victor’s honeycomb.

Underneath my chosen menu is a selection of optional extras – with the heading “why not add”. One of these is a “lucky dip” bottle of rosé, and as I cannot think of a reason “why not” to order, it gets added to my online basket.

I also order a tiramisu – not out of sheer gluttony, of course, but rather for research purposes, as it is described as a “real Contini classic”. You can also add a tip to the online bill, which avoids any awkward doorstep apologies for not having cash on you. The delivery slot is between 3pm and 7:30pm, and the order is delivered in friendly style.

Each brown paper bag comes with an attached piece of paper with the order number, and who it was checked and delivered by (Carla and Victor respectively). There is also a message saying it is “delivered with thanks and a big hug from Victor and Carina and the team”. You’re welcome!

I take a closer look at the provided information and instructions – which explain that the kitchen has been commercially deep-cleaned to meet Covid-19 regulations, and details on how to prepare the pasta. Blanch it for four minutes, but don’t let the water boil – that, I can do.

But first there is the white, springy, homemade focaccia with rosemary, which goes in the oven and comes with a small pot of pleasingly intense olive oil. If I’m nitpicking I could have done with more of the latter but I just use some of my own.

I have the bread with the courgette salad, which is delectable, ultra-thin, fresh slices of green and yellow courgette with the sprinkling of Parmesan adding a welcome saltiness and change of texture, with accompaniment of bright red fresh chilli and broad bean shoots.

Then it’s time for the pasta, which I pop in the pan, salting the water (which is meant to be as salty as the Mediterranean, I remember from watching Nigella) and watching the nine ravioli gradually float to the surface like a pack of stingrays.

I heat up the sauce – or “sugo” to give it its proper Italian name – add the pasta, and dish up, adding the grated Parmesan that comes in its own small container.

The subtle flavour of the pasta filling partners well with the various elements of the sauce – including roasted violet aubergine, pachino tomato, garlic, engorged sultanas, and pine kernels.

I also open the wine – a 2018 Uruguyan Pinot Noir with an aroma “reminiscent of fresh strawberries and blackberries”.

Then to the tiramisu, which seems like a pretty good representation of Contini’s offering – an Italian classic done properly – modern and not overly rich or stodgy as per a lot of ersatz, pile-it-high counterparts.

The only thing missing is an accompanying coffee made at a proper espresso machine, but then again being at home I can also just lie back on my sofa, not having to hide my increasingly strained waistband.

I have the figs at lunchtime the following day, a harmonious combination of its ingredients, although it would have been better served the day of delivery (as the instructions recommended).

Contini is something of an Edinburgh institution, backed up by proper Italian ancestry – and working hard to welcome back customers in the new normal – but its delivery option deserves to be a more permanent fixture. “We very much hope it was what you were expecting and that you enjoy,” says one of the documents accompanying my order. Indeed I did, grazie mille.