We catch up with Maria Dell’aquila of Lamezia Pizzeria to see how her family owned business is coping with the current Covid19 pandemic and her plans for the future…

In weeks of extraordinary events around the globe, caused by Covid-19, businesses are facing monumental challenges. As countries struggled to contain the virus all restaurants and bars in the UK were shut down to enforce social distancing. Here in the capital, we caught up with Maria Dell’aquila of Lamezia Pizzeria, Islington to discuss how her family-owned business is coping with the government measures introduced to control the spread of the virus.

How would you describe your restaurant Lamezia?

Lamezia is a family-run Calabrian restaurant. It was started in 2009 by my parents Franco and Rosa Lento who emigrated to London, from Lamezia, Italy, in 1996. They started as a delicatessen selling a variety of Italian produce and dreamt of eventually opening a restaurant. Both of them worked hard to evolve the deli in to the restaurant it is today.

Our food has always been homemade from bread to lasagna, pizza and desserts right down to the chilli oil. For the last few years mum’s homemade chocolate liquor and limoncello cream have been so popular with the regulars. She would get the lemon especially from Calabria.

I joined Lamezia in 2018 with my husband Francesco. Now we manage the restaurant with my younger sister Michaela.

Which dish on your menu excites you the most?

Carbonara Piccante is our signature dish. It was created by my dad, Franco. He added Calabrian N’duja (a spicy spreadable salami) to the original carbonara recipe. It’s what we call a successful experiment. It has the most authentic flavour of the Calabrian region. The components of the N’duja blend in well with the classic carbonara; no cream but contains egg yolk, Parmesan and lots of black pepper. It’s a local favourite.

We hear that you have a very special wine at Lamezia.

Yes. Cirò salvogaro our organic red, Frandina bianca the white and Rosemanno rosè are all from our family’s vineyard in Cirò, Crotone in Calabria. The majority of the region’s red wine is made from the gaglioppo grape. As is ours. We introduced it to our menu in the summer of 2019 and it’s been huge success. The press and our customers love it. We serve other wines such as Merlot and Sauvignon, which are carefully selected to accompany our dishes, but the Cirò is our customers’ favourite. It’s the most ordered wine from our wine list.

It’s been an unprecedented couple of weeks in London. As a small business how have you coped with the constant changes?

The whole Covid-19 situation has been a nightmare. As a business we tried our utmost to keep trading and even moving to delivery only. We also wanted to thank NHS staff by offering 50% off our menu which worked wonders and it felt really good to be able to help in that way.

However, eventually things caught up with us. We didn’t want our parents to risk going to the restaurant to cook every day when our chefs couldn’t make it. When the government announced the lockdown, we didn’t want to risk their health and that of the children in our family. So we made a decision as a family to close our doors for now.

Your family has been running Lamezia for over a decade and you’ve seen a lot of changes. How do you think the restaurant industry will cope after this?

In the 11 years of Lamezia lots of businesses have come and gone. On Holloway Road, Islington, where we are located, the transition from a couple of restaurant to a wide range of different cuisines on offer has been amazing to see. Every business here has tried to carry on trading with deliveries. It was amazing to see the togetherness. When this is over, it will not be easy to return to business as usual. A well thought out plan will need to be implemented to get us all back on track. Business owners will have to use every resource available to reinforce their brand and marketing strategy. We will need to plan ahead and work hard to rebuild our businesses.

As things stand now how optimistic are you about the future?

The aftermath might initially be hard for every business, including chains, but we will pull through. Slow and steady wins the race. Thankfully we have the government behind us. We are grateful that businesses, such as Lamezia, are being looked after at such a difficult time. It’s certainly very reassuring. We are also so grateful to the NHS. We think that together they are providing the country the best support under the circumstances. I have to be optimistic and believe that we will get back to business stronger than ever.

For more information on Lamezia visit: www.lameziaitalianrestaurant.com