Vittoria Group and The Palmerston alumnus James Clark to launch Edinburgh restaurant

Clark’s debut solo project, Sotto is billed as a destination spot for Italian wine in Edinburgh and takes its name from the Italian for ‘under’, referencing the wine cellar hidden under the street that will store over 200 Italian wines. 

Clark (pictured left) has worked at some of Edinburgh’s best-known restaurants including Vittoria Group’s Divino Enoteca and The Palmerston as well as at East End Cellars and his brother in law’s winery, Poppelvej, in Adelaide, South Australia. 

Set over two floors, Sotto comprises an upstairs Enoteca (wine bar) and a downstairs Trattoria led by Calabrian head chef Francesco Ascrizzi (pictured right), who brings experience working at top Edinburgh Italian restaurants Divino Enoteca, Mono and Tipo. 

The restaurant’s menu will combine seasonal British produce with classical Italian cookery, with dishes changing regularly to ‘celebrate the best ingredients of both countries and the diversity of Italy’s culinary regions’. 

Dishes will include Gnocco fritto with Culatello; fried olives stuffed with pork; beef carpaccio with radicchio, beetroot and gorgonzola; tagliatelle with porcini; mezze maniche pasta with venison ragù; lamb shoulder with artichokes and lentils; and Marsala-poached pear with sweet ricotta. 

Guests will also have the option to order ‘fai tu’ - literally ‘you do you’ - which will bring four courses of feasting-style dishes to share, as chosen by the chef. 

Open from 10am, the 36-cover restaurant will act as an espresso bar in the weekday mornings and will offer an Italian-influenced brunch menu on weekends, with dishes including truffle polenta with wild mushrooms and fontina cheese; frittata di pasta with Tropea onions, potato and scamorza; and brioche with gelato.

At the upstairs 25-cover wine guests will be able to order from a list that mixes modern and traditional styles and showcases every region of Italy as well as coffee, aperitivi, cocktails and light snacks.

Guests will also be able to purchase wine to take away, as well as a range of homemade pickles and chutneys under the label Sott’Olio - deriving from the method of preserving ingredients ‘under oil’ - and a small selection of Italian pantry goods. 

Sotto will open on 4 October.