The Next Chapter: The Contini Kitchen Garden

Natural food and environmental awareness are central to their family values. With a heritage rooted in Italian farming, these traditions strongly influence the decisions they make for their menus. They prioritise sourcing local, seasonal, and, where appropriate, organic ingredients. Understanding the growing process, cultivating produce specifically for their menus, and harvesting seasonal ingredients daily, sourced from within just five food miles, are all fundamental to what Contini values and delivers.

Contini Kitchen Garden

Their established one-acre Kitchen Garden is located just five miles from Edinburgh in Lasswade. Originally a derelict plot, it was lovingly cultivated from 2011 to become a unique and integral part of the kitchens across all Contini venues. A true labour of love.

The garden features established fruit beds, including gooseberries (typically harvested in July), and two varieties of rhubarb, Early Timperley and Victoria, which help extend the rhubarb season from May through to September. Red, black, and white currants support the kitchens into August, followed by a crop of blueberries.

Over 40 apple trees provide a wide selection of heritage varieties, such as White Melrose and James Grieves. Primarily cooking apples, these are key to the kitchen’s offerings during the autumn months. Other hardy fruit trees include Victoria plums, quince, and Williams pears, which bring depth and richness to seasonal dishes. A full bed of raspberries, both summer and autumn varieties, ensures a continued supply of fresh fruit.

The potager garden yields an abundance of herbs harvested throughout most of the year. These includethyme, lemon thyme, rosemary, lovage, bay leaves, oregano, and marjoram. Several varieties of mint are grown, spearmint, chocolate mint, apple mint, and Hemingway’s Mojito mint, alongside horseradish, which provides both roots and leaves for a bold herby accent

A polytunnel adds further versatility to the garden. During the summer months, it is used to grow soft herbs such as Genovese basil, tangerine sage, pineapple sage, and Italian flat-leaf parsley. In the colder months, it is transformed to produce salad leaves and beetroot.

The Kitchen Garden shares the rhythm of the seasons with their guests. Seasonal planting includes a widevariety of produce, from carrots, courgettes, beetroot, Jerusalem artichokes, globe artichokes, cabbages, squash, and pumpkins to strawberries. These ingredients are regularly featured on menus or appear as specials, such as the tasting menus at Cannonball Restaurant, deep-fried courgette flowers at Contini George Street, or Victoria plum crumble at The Scottish Cafe & Restaurant. Many dishes across all Contini kitchens are inspired directly by the garden’s daily harvests.

Flowers, both decorative and edible, are a vital feature of the garden. Courgette flowers are harvested and delivered to the kitchens - sometimes twice daily during peak season. Other edible flowers include borage, nasturtium, and broad bean flowers. Cardoon flowers are used as decorative thistles, along with sprigs of bayand lavender.

A wildflower meadow provides natural table decorations in spring and summer, while rosemary and apple mint are used in autumn. In winter, holly and ivy continue the tradition. These thoughtful choices not only enhance the dining experience but also significantly reduce the carbon footprint. Even the plants displayed on the restaurant terraces during spring and summer are annually replanted in the garden to ensure nothing is wasted.

Victor and John Campbell, the head gardener, work closely together, planning months in advance to supply the best seasonal produce to all the Contini restaurants. Victor is also a member of the Edinburgh & Midlothian Beekeepers Association. With the help of fellow beekeeper Andrew, the garden is home to four hives and over 200,000 bees, which are a vital part of the garden’s ecosystem and contribute significantly to the understanding and celebration of nature.

Grown for you, the Kitchen Garden captures the values of the Slow Food movement. Accreditations such as Gold Green Tourism at The Scottish Cafe & Restaurant and Silver Green Tourism at Cannonball Restaurant & Bar are a testament to the thoughtful choices made, for both dining guests and the environment.

"Thank you Rettie from the Contini family, at home and in the restaurant for helping a dream come true."

Our friends at Contini would love to share a cocktail with Rettie followers as a celebration of this success.

Throughout September, customers can quote 'Rettie' when booking at Contini George Street to receive a complimentary cocktail made with fresh produce from their Contini Kitchen Garden.