CELEBRATE A REAL CRACKER OF A CHIPPIE
Edinburgh Evening News – Friday 17th March 2000

If L’Alba D'Oro, the Henderson Row New Town chippie, has a claim to fame, apart from a lofty rating in the Gourmet’s Guide to Fish and Chips, it’s that Robbie Coltrane tripped in one night to place his order.
“Double fish ‘n’ chips, please, two pickled onions, salt and vinegar. And a black pudding for the dog.” To go. Nobody could confirm there was actually a pug in the car.
Big Colters must have enjoyed his snack anyway because he came back (not the same day) for more. Sheena MacDonald’s another customer, though never as ravenous with it. Add rugby’s Hasting’s brothers to the custom.
L’Alba D'Oro (Italian for Golden Dawn) this month celebrates its 25th anniversary and its owner Filippo Crolla says he owes it to the Italian army.
“I was working on my dad’s farm at Cassino when I fled to Scotland in 1972 rather than do 18 months National Service. I’m an ex-farmer who’s never been afraid of hard work. I came to Glasgow, worked in a chippie there for two years before I settled in Edinburgh and opened my own place in Henderson row in 1975. I’ve got to say, otherwise she’d hit me, that the shop, which has tripled in size, wouldn’t have been a success without Celeste, the girl from the same village I married at 20. She was 17.”
The anniversary will be marked a week tomorrow night with a happy hour, from 5 to 8pm with “selected suppers and chips” at half price, a piper and a charity raffle.
You won’t get battered Mars Bars at those prices. Says Filippo: “Nobody was battering Mars Bars 25 years ago. I tried that here for a while but the chocolate gummed up the fat.
“Nobody can say we haven’t tried. We’ve done crocodile, kangaroo, ostrich and venison with little success. There are more traditionalists in the New Town than you’d think.”