Business Love Stories

Every time I’m lucky enough to go to Italy, I seek out busy restaurants shovelling out meal after meal of great looking food. By shovelling, I mean one of those places you can plonk yourself down and pretty much guarantee an unpretentious, delicious plate of fish or a pizza that doesn’t look much but is a texture and flavour sensation. Then, when you’re in the thick of a post homemade tiramisu haze, you and your fellow diners lament that you won’t get Italian food like this again until you’re fortunate enough to return.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Enzo’s.

Enzo’s is a classic Italian restaurant on the corner of a quiet residential road just off the high street. Its bi-fold doors wrap around the front and side, allowing al fresco dining when the weather permits and for the light to pour into this welcoming place run by best friends Enzo and Enzo.

Set among Victorian terraces, with a clean, modern design and the ubiquitous pizza oven, it’s the kind of place you can, as if you were back in Italy, rock up to and know you’re going to sit down to that unpretentious food you never thought you’d find this side of the Mediterranean.

The menu is modest yet varied with classic dishes; Insalata di Mare, belly pork, grilled prawns in garlic and lemon, spaghetti alle vongole, gnocchi with Italian sausage and gorgonzola, all beautifully presented. Sign me up!

What made you set up on your own?

This is a tale of two Enzos. Three years ago, needing a change of scene, Enzo arrived from Italy with his wife and two children looking for a new challenge. Having a little money to invest he brought his best friend over from Italy, also named Enzo, whose worked in hospitality all his working life to help him set up a classic Italian family run restaurant. This is an interview with Enzo the host.

Enzo, “I know everything about food, he’s the money. We became kind of partners.”

Can you remember the moment you decided?

Enzo, “I got a call and decided to come at the end of 2019 with my kids.” Enzo’s restaurant opened two weeks before the first lockdown and shut almost immediately.

How would you describe your relationship with your business right now?

Enzo, “Great. It’s a family run place; my daughter, my son, his daughter, his son, and his wife, Sabrina. We are really close, we’ve become best friends. The restaurant has a given us a lot of local support, especially when we reopened after lockdown.”

When was it at its worst? What was happening for you then?

Brexit has been a real headache for the two Enzos, and challenged them as Italians with tradition in their heart and bones. “We buy lots of products from Italy, Brexit made that difficult and prices went right up. So now, as much as possible I buy local ingredients. We have a good butcher, if they have Italian food too then they’ve imported it, not me. If I can I’m even going to change some wine, to sparkling English wine. I’ve heard it’s good.” This last sentence comes with the caveat of a cheeky smile and a wink. “We need the basics, flour, from Italy but it’s not like before, we try and get as much as possible from this country now.”

What advice would you give to another owner who’s feeling disillusioned?

“It’s a hard business, you have to want to give with your heart, to give your best. On the one hand you need to serve the dishes everybody wants; bolognese, carbonara. But we try new dishes, we change the menu every few months. Be a unique restaurant, try that. Be you.”

What keeps you connected to why you started your business in the first place?

“We are a traditional Italian family business and it’s the community, they have supported us from the start. We had help from the government when we had to close but they also gave us help by coming to eat all the way through. They started to come when we opened and a lot of our custom is local still.”

Would you say you love your business?

At this point Enzo becomes very animated “Yes! I love this business; I love hospitality, I am the host. I love to be on the floor serving people. Sharing, it’s my life. I tried another job in the past but I couldn’t do it. This, for me, is life. I’m 48 in September I think I’m never going to finish. Enzo and I might do other things together but it will always be in hospitality.”

Tell us about something you’ve done to show your business love and nurture your relationship with it.

“As Italians we try to run with our hearts. You have to give people what’s in your heart. Everyday.”

Who or what keeps you going in tough times?

In the restaurant business times are often tough. “We always have a hard time, even a normal day, but we support each other. We are different characters with different experiences. It’s difficult but when you trust each other you can easily overcome things. And, of course, our families.”

What do you love about working for yourself?

It always comes down to freedom and independence. “I love to cook for my customers, for the community. To see their faces when they taste my food. I will never stop.”

Is there a peak pasta season?

When you’re a local restaurant in a residential area it’s not normally affected by the ebb and flow of the year. “After the pandemic, we were really busy. I think it’s too early to tell you we’re so new. We’re always busy it’s not seasonal because it’s the local community who are our main customers.”

Reviewers have compared Enzo’s cooking to Michelin star quality. Others comment on their favourite dishes and the authenticity of the place, and how they travel for miles to get their mitts on Enzo’s strawberry panna cotta. My favourite is this “I got a takeaway in lockdown and shared it with my Italian father who is very fussy and he couldn’t fault it!” I have eaten at Enzo’s, it’s a little bit of Italian heaven to tide me over till I can get back there.