A taste of Bologna – by the beach

Portobello has added to its growing foodie reputation with the opening of pasta specialist Aemilia.

Top chef Kip Preidys and Giada Betti have added a traditional “pastificio” to the town’s High Street and in the first weeks have sold out all their hand-made pastas which they make daily on the premises.

Pastificie shops are common in Italian towns where families will often purchase hand crafted pasta for cooking at home. Kip and Giada can be seen most mornings in the window of the shop at 186 High Street rolling out and shaping pasta which are sold with a variety of high quality sauces and butters.

Pasta masters Giada and Kip at work in the Portobello pastificio – Picture by Stephen Rafferty

Future plans include introducing freshly baked focaccia bread and sandwiches, offering artisanal olive oils, balsamic vinegars and other traditional Italian goods, and when Covid restrictions are relaxed coffee will be served from a small “espresso” bar at the rear of the shop.

Kip is originally from Lithuania and spent time working as a chef in some of Scotland’s leading restaurants, while Giada is from Imola near Bologna, which is revered as Italy’s food capital.

Aemilia’s biggest seller is the flat ribbon pasta tagliatelle. Kip said: “We use local produce as much as we can, the eggs used in the pasta are from East Lothian and the beef used in our shin beef ragu is all local, coming from MacDuff Beef.

“The most popular pasta is tagliatelle, probably because it’s the most affordable and the simplest and it is so traditional. Bologna and Emilia Romagna is famous for its tagliatelle ragu and you can’t really go wrong with it.

Kip rolling pasta in the window of Aemilia in Portobello High Street – Picture by Stephen Rafferty

Giada added: “We wanted to create something very simple, affordable for everyone, and to bring to Edinburgh a part of Italy that you can’t really find anywhere in the city. When we first opened many people stopped by to wish us good luck and groups of school children and people of all ages stop in the street to watch us at work. We feel very welcome and are very happy to open the shop in Portobello.”

Aemilia is open Thursday to Sunday from 10am-3pm – check their Instagram account for opening times.