For Scottish Food and Drink Fortnight 2019, Stuart McMillan MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde visited Tonino’s to see how the local Italian restaurant is creating delicious Scottish-Italian fusion food for customers to enjoy.

Tonino’s have won several awards since opening in 2016, including ‘best pizzeria’ at the 2018 Scottish Italian Awards and ‘best food and drink’ at the Inverclyde Chamber of Commerce Bees Knees awards 2019, and have been so popular with customers that owner Tony Bonatti decided to convert the restaurant’s upstairs space into an additional seating area.

The refurbished area will bring further seating for weekend dining, private functions, kids’ parties, pizza classes, and wine tasting.

As well as offering high quality, authentic Italian dishes, Tonino’s has a delicatessen counter so that customers can purchase Italian produce to make their own Scottish-Italian fusion food at home.

As part of the visit, Stuart saw how the refurbishment works are coming along and made an ItaloScozzesse pizza, which features Italian sausage and black pudding.

Commenting, Stuart said:

“Today’s visit to Tonino’s as part of Scottish Food and Drink Fortnight was a real treat – the food is always great and the staff are friendly and welcoming.

 

“With my office being right next door to the restaurant, I’ve seen first-hand how popular Tonino’s has become since opening three years ago. It is great news for the business, the local economy and ultimately the customers that more seating space has been created upstairs to accommodate this growth.

 

“Scottish Food and Drink Fortnight is all about highlighting the ambitious producers and restauranteurs across Scotland who provide consumers with tasty food and drink all year round. Tonino’s is an example of how European cuisines can team up with Scottish products to create beautiful dishes that everyone can enjoy.”

 

Tony added:

“It was great to have Stuart visit us today and show him how our refurbishment plans are coming along. I’ve loved watching Tonino’s grow, but we hate turning diners away, which is why our new mezzanine will allow seating for a further 12-14 people at peak times.

 

“As much as we sell ourselves on providing authentic Italian food, we regularly use Scottish produce like haggis and black pudding to add that Scottish flavour to our dishes.

 

“We look forward to seeing the business continue to go from strength to strength, and are grateful to our loyal customers who have supported us from day one.”