Italian vegan Restaurant, Sora Lella, is opening its second Edinburgh venue in Newington this Saturday.
Sora Lella was awarded “Best Scottish Vegan Restaurant” in 2024, and has been a popular destination in Brougham Street in Tollcross since 2019.
Their dishes are innovative such as carbonara made with soy-based bacon, a fillet that looks and tastes like meat, yet is completely plant based, or a Tiramisù made with vegan mascarpone. With a considerably larger venue, and a thoughtfully curated 100% plant-based new menu, the restaurant aims to attract vegans and non-vegans alike.
The co-owners are Maddalena, the original founder of Sora Lella, and Dea.
Maddalena said: “We came up with the idea of rebranding the whole concept while staying truth to its roots.
“Sora Lella is my inside spirit, rustic, a proper Roman, when you go there the atmosphere reminds you a classic Roman lady, making big and juicy portions of homemade pasta.”
Dea said: “Sora means “Signora”, “Mrs”, so we thought to make a new Sora and choose another name that would mirror the idea of the new restaurant. Diana is the Roman goddess protector of women and animals, and, as a Vegan restaurant, we wanted the name to embody respect for animals, nature, and, of course, women.”
Maddalena envisioned introducing new elements to Sora Lella, but with a more gourmet and refined touch that would not quite fit the original space. So the duo decided to explore the idea of opening a second venue.
Sora Diana will take over the former Urban Fox location, which closed a year ago, and, with 60 covers, the venue is considerably bigger than Sora Lella.
Maddalena said: “A big change is that there will not be pizza here.
“We wanted to do something different and introduce (Vegan) burgers, which is pretty unusual for an Italian restaurant. The presentation is going to be different, even though I love being chunky in the way I serve pasta at Sora Lella, this time I want to be more refined”.
Dea talked about the new menu: “Customers will be able to choose from a selection of Vegan meats – including burgers, fillets, and hams – that we’ve sourced directly from Bologna, and we’ve never seen in Vegan restaurants. We want to attract not only Vegan customers, but also non-Vegans.
“Of course it is not easy to present a cauliflower steak when they’ve been eating red meat”, the owners point out – “But the idea would be to have something that looks and tastes like a steak, but it does not come from an animal. We want people to embrace this cuisine and try something new”.
Sora Lella opened its doors in 2019, at a time when Edinburgh’s plant-based community was smaller than it is today.
But Maddalena said introducing the new cuisine was not so hard: “No, it wasn’t difficult. It was lot of work, of course, but I always saw the big amount of plant-based people in Edinburgh. I thought myself how to make pizza and cook Vegan food and started the business.
“At the beginning, in the restaurant it was only me, my dad as KP, my mum helping with the kitchen, and one front of house. It was like that for six months, until we unfortunately had to close for COVID. When we came back, I had enough time to build the space in a better way”.
“We don’t want to take customers away from Sora Lella, because what Sora Diana lacks, Sora Lella has, and vice versa.
“Sora Lella is the place to go when you are hungry and want to feel the cosy Roman vibes. If you want to sit down and feel like you’re at your mother’s house, with this original flavour that will make you feel right at home, that’s where you should be.
“But if you’re looking for something a bit more unique, refined, and perfect for a night out with friends, a date, or even a business dinner, Sora Diana is the place to be.”
The grand opening for Sora Diana is on Saturday, 8 February from 4pm in Newington (19-21 Causewayside).
Reservations for the opening night and the following days are now available on the website through Open Table.
