Bottega Caruso: The Italian Job
Who needs to spend a load of money on flights to Italy, when you can just swing by Bottega Caruso on Margate’s seafront to munch on food that’s come straight from the mountains of Campania? Rosanna Spence drops in to find out what the hype is all about
The arcade on Margate's seafront is as kitsch as the British seaside gets. Pushing through the kids with Mr Whippy spread over their faces, I ducked inside, passing the massive Routemaster bus and boutiques selling everything from vinyl to craft beer and dog treats. And there it was. Bottega Caruso – a crimson oasis towards the back of the arcade, home to a deli shop and kitchen that could easily be found on a cobbled village street in southern Italy.
Amid the trippy inside/outside fascias, blinking coloured lights and music coming from the sound system (as well as a distant piano that someone had a good plonk on every now and then) Bottega Caruso is pure, unadulterated food from the boot.
If it wasn't for the till and deli counter, stepping through the door feels like teleporting into an Italian family kitchen. There’s one table, candles, imported Italian wine and a clay jug of water, while their Italian assistant - who they randomly met in Margate - makes pasta by hand as she has done in numerous restaurants across Italy and England.
"We originally worked together in a restaurant in London," explains Harry. "Simona came to work in the Italian Embassy, she was the receptionist and I was the manager. We became friends, got together and had a baby, then we moved to Canterbury. The first time we went to see Simona's family in Italy, it was the most amazing food I'd ever eaten, even though we were working in Michelin-starred restaurants in London. But this was not like any Italian food I'd ever tried before. So, we had this romantic dream – wouldn't it be lovely to take Simona's family food and bring it to England, to make a shop?"
The beauty of this pair's menu is its simplicity. Fresh pasta, probably the best tomato sauce you'll ever taste (it'll put your mum's best spag bol to shame) and some charcuterie bites among other Italian delicacies local to Simona's home village of Foglianise.
They use meat from a Canterbury butcher (name check for The Goods Shed, of course); the flour is provided by a farmer known for planting ancient organic wheat back in Italy; the veggies are from Margate and Kent, the free-range eggs are laid locally and Simona's family tomato sauce has nothing but Italian sun, rain and volcanic hills to help it flourish.
"I fell pregnant, so we went to Italy for three months," adds Simona. "There wasn't much to do in my village and it was very hot. We decided to cook with my grandma, keeping a journal of all the recipes. We helped with my granddad in the garden, went to the lady next door to see her olive oil and learned all about my family's tomato sauce."
Fast forward a few months, and the couple were living in Harry's dad's house in Canterbury, which became the base where they organically grew their Italian home kitchen business.
"We got permission from the council to cook at home," she remembers. "We made fresh pasta from scratch, as we did in Italy, and had my grandparent's tomato sauce sent over. We started a monthly pop-up at The Goods Shed where we just cooked and sold those two ingredients – but we were so popular that we were selling out within two hours so had to take pre-orders."
Soon Harry and Simona supplemented their pop-up with supper clubs at the house, blending local Kentish produce with ingredients sourced directly from her family and village. It wasn't unheard of for her mum, dad, grandma and friends to fly over from Italy and help to cook for up to 20 guests.
"I could introduce each dish and tell everyone the story," says Simona. "Authenticity for me is a priority. It is something that I cannot compromise on."
A year later, the pair moved to a small flat in Canterbury, which left them with nowhere to cook for their pop-up. Then a little birdie told them about the University of Kent, which rents out the big commercial kitchens that aren't used year-round.
"You could pay them in food," Simona explains. "We cooked there two days a week with really good machinery, and made enough food for the university to sell back to the students. They help out local businesses who can't afford to rent another commercial kitchen space. But I missed having contact with people while I cooked. That's why we decided we needed our own place."
February saw Harry and Simona take on the free space in the Old Kent Market arcade, at a time when Margate is the centre point for emerging start-up businesses in Kent.
"Margate is exciting and you can be creative, but I didn't really believe the hype until we came here," admits Harry. "And now there is so much amazing stuff happening and a real eclectic mix of people. This space is great for exposure because you meet so many people who are visiting the Turner or the beach; they come to us. But we would eventually like a place with our own vibe, music, and our own tables."
It's been about 10 months since they opened, and two years since they were cooking at home, and Bottega Caruso is now a haven for Italian expats, who, after sceptically looking around the shop and eyeing up the hyperlocal produce (neither Simona or Harry look remotely Italian) demand, 'Who is the Italian here?'. So, Simona turns on the charm, turns up her accent and shares her knowledge of the specialist ingredients on offer as well as stories of the lady from the mountain in her village who makes the cheese, and about her grandfather's garden.
She once convinced an old Italian man – who refused to eat anything not cooked by his wife outside their country – to tuck into a plate of food from Bottega Caruso. So maybe she can convince you to spend the money you saved on those flights to the Mediterranean, on a bunch of Italian produce that'll transport you to the mountains in an instant. I'm in.
