our story

I remember vividly my first visit to Simona’s family home in Foglianise, a village high up in the mountains of Sannio, an hour and a half drive from Napoli. It was October 2013, and my birthday.

I’d visited Italy before, quite a few times, and had a sense of it, the food, the culture. But here, it was different. One of the first dishes I ate was verdura e fagioli, a kind of stew of bitter leafy greens, with beans. It blew my mind how good it was, the depth of flavour. I thought so clearly how I’d love to make this for my friends and family, and how far removed it was from any Italian food I’d eaten before.

That first long lunch, with mozzarella di bufala, stuffed peppers, giardineria, seppie e piselli, cavatelli, sugo con filoscio, and baba was one of the finest meals I’d ever eaten. Imagine if you could recreate, or at least get close to, this meal back home in the UK I thought as I dozed off for a glorious siesta.

A couple of years later, having left London and our jobs, our baby son Raphael just a year old, we hosted our first Supper Club. It was pretty much that menu, and everyone loved it. We did another, and another.

We took a stall every Friday at The Goods Shed in Canterbury, a truly inspiring and wonderful Farmers Market, and sold fresh pasta and jars of preserved tomatoes from Simona’s family.

We found a small more permanent space in another indoor food market, in Margate. We had no money and Margate was affordable, and magical on the sea, we took a gamble and opened Bottega Caruso in March 2017.

That first year was hard, we nearly had to give up as we ran out of money and couldn’t even pay rent on our flat. There were many tears and difficult moments, but we always somehow managed just to keep going.

Slowly slowly, people came, and nearly always came back. We made friends, Raphael settled in his new nursery, and we had some positive press. (Thanks Zeren and Claire!)

We found a space around the corner on Broad Street (where we are still) and opened the first space of our own in January 2018.

Since then we are so grateful for how it’s gone. Hard work of course, but we have the most wonderful staff, incredibly kind and supportive friends and customers, and so many lovely words written about us in all kinds of publications including The Guardian (Grace Dent), Bitten Written, The National Geographic, Time Out, The Mail on Sunday, The Michelin Guide, The Good Food Guide, The Spectator.. and lots of nice reviews. (And a few rubbish ones but you can’t please everyone!)

Bottega Caruso is a homage to Simona’s family, her mum Maria & Dad Mario, her grandparents Carmella & Gaetano, Palmira & Giovanni, and that wonderful and unexplored part of Italy.

And also to my stepmum Mel, one of the biggest Italophiles ever, who passed away when Raphael was still a bump in 2014. Growing up in South East London with my mum, dinner was on the sofa watching Eastenders, mostly Fray Bentos pies with baked beans. But every other weekend my brother and I would go to our Dad & Mel’s house. They ate at the table, with candles, olives, anchovies and Maria Callas playing. A meal was always special and homecooked, conversation and music and friends. When Bottega is full and busy, the room full of happiness and laughter, it reminds me of those times, of Mel.

I hope she’d like it here.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and hopefully see you here sometime. Harry & Simona x