Ragù Pasta, Edinburgh

Is this another good thing arriving from the west? You know, like young Lochinvar. Or, on the food front, Baba (an offshoot from Ox & Finch) or Ka Pao?

The similarities between Ragù Pasta and Sugo Pasta in Glasgow are remarkable. The idea is to serve a small range of pastas based on Italian regional favourites at low prices with a high turnover of tables. Although the owners, Princes Restaurant Group, are Glasgow based, the places are unrelated. In Glasgow, PRG also have Barca Tapas and Cranachan in Princes Square, and the iconic Willow Tea Rooms in Buchanan Street. Their first Edinburgh venture is Salerno Pizza in St James Quarter. I haven't been, but the photos and menu bear an uncanny resemblance to Glasgow's Paesano Pizza.

Well, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I suppose. How do the copycats fare? I went there midweek with D, to celebrate the Curmudgeon's birthday, the second since he passed. In a prominent position in the centre of George Street, the stripped down interior with exposed (faux?) industrial fittings is uncannily close to Sugo, down to the neon sign inviting us to eat more pasta. Even more enticing is the chef in the window making large quantities of pasta, making the process look ridiculously effortless.

First impressions are bang on, a warm Sardinian welcome from Michele. It's busy on a Wednesday lunchtime. One tip from me, guys. If you don't have a central cloakroom for wet coats and brollies, put some pegs next to the tables as they do in Paesano.

The menu is a simple affair, Seven dishes designated as sides, which, with the exception of the rocket salad, are most logically eaten as snacks or starters. For the main event ten pasta dishes, each attributed to a particular area. Every day's a learning day. I had thought that carbonara was invented in Naples. The menu attributes it to Lazio, which I discover to be correct. Apparently the liberating US Army in Rome brought vast quantities of bacon (though the purists would insist that you make the dish, as they do here, with guanciale - pig's cheeks). They serve it here with tonnarelli. These are very similar to spaghetti, but a little thicker and with square edges. They're sometimes known as spaghetti alla chitarra because the pasta is shaped by being pushed through a row of wire strings resembling a guitar.

Panzanella

Things started off pretty well. A feature of much of the food of Italy is its simplicity, relying on good quaity ingredients and allowing them to sing. Full marks on them for sourcing cherry tomatoes with sweetness and flavour. Put them round a chunk of oozing burrata with just a few herbs and you don't need much else. More tomatoes in the panzanella, the perfect way to get rid of stale bread. Crisp it in some oil and mix with tomatoes and onions. Lovely.

Then the wheels started to come off a bit. The (strangely frilly edged) pappardelle with slow cooked beef ragù chose itself. There was a wee mix up with the rest of the order. We wanted the tonnarelli carbonara. Michele misheard the order as tortelli, advertised as being filled with rosemary squash and served with a sausage ragù. Not a huge problem, but it took us a little time to work out what the latter dish was when it arrived. The pasta was a bit of a mess - no obvious tortelli shape - and little discernible stuffing. I wasn't taken with the sausage ragù, but D preferred it it to the beef one. Portions are not huge, so we decided to go for a carbonara as well. It arrived pretty quickly. They advertise the guanciale as being crispy. Some was, some was just chewy. There was a slightly burnt taste - no garlic involved, so I suspect some of the meat must have caught. With a classic carbonara the addition of the egg at the end results in a rich coating of the pasta. The sauce here was decidedly runny. No cream, surely? Certainly not! said Michele, rightfully indignant. So what had happened? Probably pasta water to loosen it, we reckoned. Sadly we enjoyed neither the consistency nor the flavour, and the dish was left uneaten.

Michele tried to tempt us with some tiramisu. We settled for some decent coffee. Nice place, great service (I forgot to mention the lovely Ella), but, but, but.