EDINBURGH.- The National Galleries of Scotland announced a new collaboration with Victor and Carina Contini, the hugely successful partnership that brought the restaurant Centotre to Edinburgh. The Scottish Café and Restaurant at the National Gallery will celebrate the very best ingredients from Scottish producers and growers, offering delicious, yet affordable food in a wonderful setting. The restaurant, which, for the first time, will serve breakfast every day from 9.00 am, will open on 19 October 2009, in the National Gallery Complex, on The Mound. The restaurant will also now open for dinner on Saturday evenings.

Following the same principles of fresh, simple, good value food on offer at Centotre, the concept for The Scottish Café and Restaurant will focus on local produce and Scottish cuisine.

Michael Clarke, Director of the National Gallery of Scotland said: “We are delighted to be working in partnership with such a high-profile and successful company as Centotre. At the National Gallery of Scotland we feel it is particularly appropriate that the cuisine will have a distinctly contemporary and Scottish flavor – to be enjoyed by our visitors from home and abroad! “

Carina Contini said: “We are thrilled to have won the contract with the National Gallery of Scotland and are looking forward to showcasing the best of Scottish producers and suppliers in The Scottish Café and Restaurant.”

The restaurant interior will have a new look, devised by Annie and Lachie Stewart of ANTA, a family-run Scottish design and architecture firm. Individually commissioned, hand-woven fabrics, Scottish oak and Caithness slate will feature in their planned redesign. A number of original oil paintings by the celebrated Scottish artist Sir William Gillies will also be on show.

The Café will serve great coffee and traditional Aberdeen Butteries, made to its own special recipe. Lunch will include hearty homemade soup, old-fashioned tasty open sandwiches, beautiful salads and lots of irresistible homemade cakes. Traditional Afternoon Tea and the classic Scottish favorite, High Tea, will be served from 3pm to 6pm every day. The Restaurant will be open from Monday to Sunday, from 9.00 am until 5 pm, with dinner being served on Saturday evenings.