02x04 - London

[bunniefuu]

- Ah.

Oh, grazie.

- Grazie.

That's really good. Ossobuco.

This is one of my favorite
places in the world.

But you'll never
guess where it is.

- Okay, I'll give you a hint.

Grazie.

There are more Italians here

than in Bologna or Pisa.

The Ancient Romans saw it
as their last frontier.

- No, it's not. It's Trajan.

- It's a place built on
tradition and innovation.

And whatever you've heard,
the food here is incredible.

Wow, this is so good.

I don't even wanna talk anymore.

I just wanna eat it.

Welcome to London.

I'm Stanley Tucci.

I'm Italian on both sides,

and I've been traveling
across Italy to discover

how the food in each of
this country's 20 regions

is as unique as the
people and their past.

By population alone,

London could be
Italy's 21st region.

- My friend, Andrea Riva,

is one of half a
million Italians

who have chosen to
make London their home.

So why is it, here,
that for 150 years,

Italians have found
the freedom...

This is completely different
than what I saw in Italy.

To create something wonderful.

Do you see how I gave
myself the bigger piece?

Mmm, mmm. Oh, my God.

It's so sweet. I love that.

Come on. This is incredible.

London's been my home
for about a decade now.

In my mind, no city in the world

can rival its
elegance and charm.

It's a magnetic metropolis

twice the size of New York City.

And today, I'm taking you
to one of my favorite spots.

So here I am striding
along Savile Row,

where some of the best
tailors in London are...

In the world are.

Sadly, I have no
time for a fitting.

I've got a lunch date at the
only restaurant on the block,

the aptly named Sartoria.

That's Italian
for "tailor shop."

Ciao.
- Oh, Stanley.

- Hi.
- How you doing?

- How you doin'?

- Nice to see you.
- I'm so happy to see you.

- And you, and you.
- You all right?

- Yeah, I'm good. Good. Busy.

- Good.
- I'm excited to have you

in my kitchen.

- Francesco Mazzei and I

have known each other
for a long time.

I love his food so much

that Felicity and I asked
him to cater our wedding.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah,
I don't know why.

- You're a lucky man.
- I know, I know.

I've managed to sneak in

before the lunch crowd
arrives, and it turns out

Francesco's cooking a dish
I've never tried before.

So what are you gonna make?

- Whoa. My God,

look at the size of that.

- Right.

- That's beautiful.

- Francesco moved to London
in the 1990s from Calabria,

one of Italy's poorest regions.

Today, he heads a busy
kitchen with a staff of 50.

This one? Jesus, really?

Spicy and unctuous, 'nduja
is a Calabrian sausage

that you typically find
scraped on a bit of old bread,

not a scallop.

- Okay, look.
- Wow.

I have children
smaller than that.

Jesus.

Oh, that's beautiful.
- Check this out.

- Yeah, that is
really, really... whoa.

Look at the color.

That's a lot of paprika.
- Beautiful.

- That's like a mad
Hungarian got in there.

- Okay.

- Right.

- Yes, wow.
- What we're gonna do...

The mashed potato here...
- Yeah?

- Scallops.
- Oh, my God.

- Just gonna go to the grill.

- Two minutes on the grill,

and then it's time
for some pyrotechnics.

- This is dangerous, yeah?

- Ah, that's nice.

- So now...

- Yes.

- And we add the two
main ingredients.

This is the 'nduja.

- It's like a
candy, practically.

- Yeah, it's quite unusual.

- Whoa.
- Kay.

- Whoa.

- Now, salsa verde.

Bread soaked in vinegar,
anchovies, parsley, capers,

egg whites, and garlic.
- Come on.

- Calabrian extra
virgin olive oil.

- Oh, my.

- This Juniper
branch, you see it?

It's to give a bit of
decoration to the dish.

- Right.

- Scallops here.
- That's beautiful.

You were the one who really
sort of introduced this...

- Mmm.

That's delicious.
- Good.

- It's got so much
going on. Mmm.

I could hang around
with Francesco all day.

- It looks like
you're enjoying it.

- Yeah, I'm loving it.
- Thank you.

- But I've got a
lunch date upstairs.

John. How are ya?

- So nice to meet you.
- So nice to meet you too.

Are you hungry?
- Very.

- Good.

I'm being joined by John Dickie,

an historian who's about

as obsessed with
Italian food as I am.

- A bit of 'nduja.

Nobody in their right minds,
a generation or two ago,

would've thought of Calabria
as somewhere that, you know,

had a cuisine to
offer the world.

But we're looking
in the wrong place

if we think that
somehow it was peasants

who magically...
- Yes, you're naturally...

- Transplanted this food
onto our tables, you know.

The real motors of Italian
cuisine are cities...

Parma ham, Bistecca
alla Fiorentina,

your pizza Napolitana,
and so on and so forth.

- So why has London become

such a fertile place
for Italian food?

- Italy is a country where,

for bright, talented, young
people, all too often,

it's who you know and
not what you know.

Whereas London, it's
more competitive.

But as they say in Italian...

Nobody looks at who you are.
They look at what you can do.

- Right.

It's here in London

that Francesco has
found the freedom

to take an entirely new
approach to Calabrian cuisine.

What do we got?

- Talk us through.
- This is our black cod

with licorice, red onion jam,

carbonero, olive oil
mash, and crispy potatoes.

- Look at that.
- Mmm.

- It's incredible.

This is absolutely delicious.

- Oh, thank you.

- What looks like haute cuisine,

is actually an
ode to Francesco's

humble Calabrian roots.

- Really?
- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

- So in all of the fish,
it was a bit of salinity.

We marinate with licorice
for a couple of hours,

and then of course, the
red onion, Tropea onion.

- So good.
- So it's a bit like

a bit of my
experience on a plate.

- Where do you see London
food going in the future?

- Cheers.
- Cheers.

- And thank you so much.
Thank you... cheers.

- There are over 3,000 Italian
restaurants and delicatessens

in London today.

Look at that.

But this British love
affair with Italian food

didn't simply happen overnight.

Oh, my God. It's so sweet.

That's the way it
should be sliced.

Look, you can almost
see through it.

One man's yearning for
the food of his homeland

wound up transforming

this city's culinary
landscape forever.

Gennaro Contaldo's
simple, genuine approach

to Italian food started
a gastronomic revolution.

Look at him, waiting
like a sentinel.

Today, he's one of Britain's
most adored TV chefs,

and the man who
taught Jamie Oliver

practically everything he
knows about Italian food.

- This is a church.

Do we have to pray for our food?

- Oh, my God.
- This is beautiful.

- I'm never leavin'.

This is Mercato Mayfair,
an Italian food hall

housed inside a
deconsecrated church.

- There's everything. I
don't know where to start.

- I don't know where to stop.

Gennaro's taking me here
to pick up some ingredients

for a special dish
he wants to cook me.

That's if we can resist the
temptation to eat beforehand.

Oh, my God. Look at that.

How come I don't
have one of those?

- Oh, look at that.

- This is what
I'm talkin' about.

- That's beautiful. Look
at the color of that.

I'm Stanley.
- Ella.

- Ella.

Where did you learn
to make pasta?

- Here.
- Oh, wow.

So why did you come to London?

- Because for work.
- For work?

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

The number of Italians
in London has tripled

in the last decade,

driven mainly by
young folk like Ella.

I mean they're all Italian.
- Yes!

- Even if it's not an Italian
restaurant, they're Italian.

But when Gennaro moved here

in 1969, London was
Europe's culinary backwater.

There were no real
Italian restaurants?

- I walked in a place, and
it was doing a carbonara,

and the chef said, "Can I show
you how to do the carbonara?"

And they start to makes
béchamels with a cheese,

and then the spaghetti
was already pre-cooked.

- What?
- Yes.

Just said, "Look, I know
how to do the proper one."

He said, "Take your
jacket and go away."

- He fired you.
- He fired me straight away.

- Oh, my God.

- Look at that. Tagliarini.

- Is this what you
wanna use? This one?

- Yeah... would be nice
with a lovely, lemony pasta.

- Let's get one kilo.
- Yeah.

- All right, and we'll
take the machine too.

Yeah.

- Being the consummate forager,

Gennaro's whisking me off
to the other side of town

to hunt for our next ingredient.

- Look! London Wall.

- A close cousin to
arugula, rocket is believed

to have been brought
here by the Romans,

who founded this
city 2,000 years ago.

And the area around
the Roman walls

is said to be a great spot

for this ancient
Mediterranean weed.

Caesar? No.

- No, it's not.
- It's not Caesar.

- It's Trajan.

Trajan.

- Can we find something rocket?

- What is that?

- I don't think so.

- And it's supposed to be
growing out of the wall?

- But they used to call.

- Ah! See, what's that?

- Which one?
- That.

- That's a dandelion.
That is a chicory, yeah.

- But that's what my
grandparents used to get

on the side of the road.

That's not it.

But sadly, no luck.

- There's everything
except the rocket.

- This is the end of July,
and look at the weather.

My shoes are wet.

On a day like this,

I can't imagine, coming
from sunny Amalfi,

that London looked very
much like the promised land.

- You know, my village,

you'd never seen such
a beautiful place.

- But it wasn't where you
were supposed to stay.

- Si! Yeah.

I loved London, and after
50-odd years, I'm still here.

- Yeah. I'm just
happy I met you

when I came here.
- Yeah, I know.

I'm happy.

- Come on.
- Come on. Let's go.

- Let's go cook.
- All right.

- Have you got any
wild rocket yet?

- No, I have a Roman wall
right next to my house.

A quick pitstop
at a supermarket,

and we're back at my house

with enough wild rocket
for a Roman legion.

- Smell it.
- Oh, my God.

- Where I come from,
the Amalfi coast,

lemons, lemons, lemons, and
squeeze, squeeze, squeeze.

Eat, eat, eat.

- Amalfi lemons are
renowned across Italy

for their incredible sweetness.

- Not a lot of pasta recipe
involved around the lemon.

Beautiful garlic.
Cut 'em a little bit.

Have we got any chili?

- So here...
- Yes.

This is nice one.

The chili don't have to be hot.
- Yeah.

- Chili bring out the
flavor of whatever you eat.

This is joyful.
- Yes, yeah.

- But have to be respect.

So what we do with this one,
we just leave him like that.

- Don't even cut it.

It's an instant
little kick, isn't it?

- And that garlic goes in.
Put a little bit of oil.

- I'm using extra
virgin olive oil.

- Nice, nice.
- Yes,

and I'm gonna bring it up,

like, to a medium heat.

I can smell it already.
- The garlic.

- Oh, my God, okay.

- The same time, put
salt inside, yes?

- Yes, yes, yes.
- Straight in.

Look at that, that is yum.

As soon as it come
up, it's ready.

- Yeah.
- And if it's a little bit

al dente, it doesn't matter.

Oh, my... look at
that! I'm sorry,

I just get excited every
time I cook a bit of pasta.

- A little knob of a butter.
- That's a big knob.

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

- And now, you can get
right on top of the chili,

if you press 'em a little bit.
- Yeah.

So it's interesting
that you use butter.

- Who use butter? The
campagna ate lots and lots

of butter.
- Lots of buffalo.

- But what actually the
butter do... look at that.

Even the creaminess.
- Yeah, mix it all.

- Then mix it all like that.

Just a little squeeze of lemon.

- Gennaro's tagliarini with
Amalfi lemon and London rocket

may not be a strictly
traditional recipe...

- The lovely pepper
and the one rocket.

- Look at how beautiful that is.

But it's with beautifully
simple and inventive dishes

like this that Gennaro
was able to change

London's culinary scene forever.

- Yes... yes?
- Oh, my God.

Come on, come on.

- Buon appetito.
- Buon appetito.

- Oh, my God.

- The lemon.

- Mmm, wow. Mmm.

- Mmm.
- Mmm.

- I love it with the
rocket. It's so good.

- Mmm.

- I don't even want
to talk anymore

about it or anything.

I just wanna eat it.

Is Felicity here? Felicity?

Sadly, our romantic meal for two

is being interrupted by my wife.

We're gonna make this
again quickly for her.

Oh, hi.
- Hi, hun.

- You're back. How
was the dentist?

- Oh, ever a pleasure.
- Let me see.

Oh, it looks good.
- Go away.

- How are you?

- We just made this and ate it.

- You didn't make...
- No, we couldn't.

- Can we do it now?
- We make it now... it's fresh.

It's fresh.
- Oh, yum...

- Fantastico.

- A little zest?
- Yeah, zesting me.

You are very zesty.

- I've been told that for years.

Thank you.

- Mmm.

Oh, my God.

- Isn't that incredible?
- It's amazing.

I'm trying to get a
more manageable bite,

but it just keeps coming.

- And just like that,
another Londoner converted

by the gospel according
to Gennaro Contaldo.

- Would you like to move
in? We can form a bubble.

- London's east end was once

a blue-collar,
multicultural neighborhood.

But today, the
area has blossomed

into a gastronomic hot spot.

At its heart is
Spitalfields Market.

I'm walking to meet
a friend of mine,

Angela Hartnett, who
is an incredible chef,

a Michelin-starred chef,

but one of the
most down-to-earth,

loveliest people ever, and
who knows more about food

than any of us will ever know.

- Hi, Matthew. I
need some chicken.

So probably those
carcasses and maybe...

- Angela has invited me
over to her house for lunch

with her extended
Welsh-Italian family.

- Shin of beef.
- But first,

I've gotta actually
help her cook.

- I'd like rump as
well, 'cause it would be

quite cool to do that.

- May I?
- Marvelous.

Oh, hello.
- Hi, how are you?

How are you?

- Nice to see you.
- Likewise.

- Yes, yes.
- Welcome to East London.

- What are you gettin'?
- We're gettin' this beautiful

shin of beef.
- Okay.

- Lovely sort of veal rump.

These are both gonna
be braised down,

and then I want
a load of chicken

just to make this
lovely, light broth.

We'll take some red to cook
with, and we'll take a white.

- That's exciting.

- You can carry the wine, Stan.
- Yeah, sure.

Where are we going?
- Let's go cook.

- Oh, I'm starving.
- Well, you gotta cook

a little bit first, Mr. Tucci.
- Oh, yeah, that's right.

- Just like mine, Angela's
grandparents were Italian.

They were part of a
chain migration to Wales

from a little town
in Emilia-Romagna.

What year was this?

- This was after
the first world w*r.

Italy was decimated.
- Yeah.

- You know, the poverty there.
- Mm.

- And basically, it was the
actual... same immigrant story

that you get in
America, in the U.S.

- But why South Wales as
opposed to England or America?

- One person comes over, then
their brother comes over,

then he brings his wife,
she brings her brother...

- Right, right.
- And suddenly,

you have this tiny
village in Italy, Bardi,

near Bologna, near
Parma, and all of them

went over to South Wales.
You know, bizarrely.

So it's that "who you knew"...

- So you figure, "Well,
at least I know this guy."

- Yeah.

- This really is a case of truth

being stranger than fiction.

Almost 80% of the original
Welsh-Italian population

can trace their heritage
to the same village:

Bardi.

- As the eldest granddaughter,

I was the one who
had to do everything.

If Nonna wanted
shopping, it was me.

- It was you, yeah.
- If I had to go cook,

it was me, or I had to clean.
My brother was teased...

Already did nothing.

- Yeah, yeah.
- So you probably did nothing,

and your sisters did everything.

Have sympathy for them, Stanley.

- Oh, my God. Yeah.

It was at her nonna's table
that Angela first learned

to make agnolini in brodo,

a filled egg pasta

served in a rich broth made
traditionally for Christmas.

- This is what we will
put into... in a hot...

Is that okay?
- Oh, come on.

Oh, come on.

- It's so good.

While the broth simmers away,

we're getting started on
the filling for the pasta.

And in here, what do
you have? You have...

- I've got celery.
I've got carrots.

I've got garlic, and I'm
gonna press all of that,

'cause it's so soft now...

- Yeah.
- Through a sieve,

and we're gonna put
that into the filling.

Just parsing all the veg.
- Oh, that's beautiful.

- Just so you don't
waste any of that.

And that's gonna go...
- Inside the pasta.

- Inside.
- There's no meat inside of it.

No.
- Traditionally, no.

- Yeah, no, that's
gorgeous. Yeah, okay.

Just like in the foggy
valleys of Emilia-Romagna...

- Then we add the cheese.

- Breadcrumbs and cheese,

affordable even to
the poorest families,

take the place of
meat in the filling.

- This is looking good.

I'm not gonna do
tons, otherwise,

you'll never get back
to West London, Stanley,

that's all I'm saying.
- Yeah, that's true.

Do you feel more
Italian than British,

or an amalgam of both?

- This is my home
country. I love it.

But I definitely think
if you've been brought up

with the Italian DNA of
just generosity and family,

it's very hard not
to keep that in you,

and we're very family.

- Speaking of family,

Angela's mother, Giuliana,
her Aunt Viv, and Uncle Ren,

have arrived just in
time to do the hard work

of filling the agnolini.

So you were all
born here? - Yes.

All born here... or in
Wales. - South Wales.

- Yeah, yeah.

- You get that great
confusion between cultures

of making pasta, drinking
tea. It's just crazy.

- And this is the
filling that I made

with Stanley earlier, Mum.
- See what it's like.

- Mmm.
- Slightly bit more salt on it.

- Bit more salt? Okay,
Mum. That's fine.

We can put a little
bit more salt.

I'm getting the sense

that in this family,
Angela's Michelin star

doesn't count for all that much.

- It's a system to follow.

- It is a lot of work, isn't it?

This is what people did,

'cause you weren't
doing anything else.

- Everyone's like quick recipes,

but actually, good
recipes take time.

A little bit less
than the filling.

Yeah, don't go too
big, Mr. Tucci.

- I'm sorry.
- I mean, honestly,

you turn your back
for one minute,

and it all goes to pot.
- I'm nervous.

- Beautiful.

You still haven't
lost your touch, Mum.

- No, no, no.
- Just press them down,

and then use your stamp.

- Oh, my God. I'm
gonna make these

with my kids.
- Yeah.

- It's like a little
sun. They're so pretty.

- We tend to make about 800.

- On a good day.
- There's always a cheer

when we break the 500...
- I know.

- And then phone
calls go to my aunt's

to check how many they've made.

- So it's a bit
of a competition?

Yeah.

- That's enough of this.
- Gorgeous.

All right, let's cook 'em.

- Right, so just literally
in, and they're gonna come up.

- Oh, my God. This
is incredible.

It smells like healthiest
thing in the world.

Mmm.

Oh.

- The sun came out!
- Yeah.

- It's the end of July,
but the scent of agnolini

is making us all feel
a little Christmas-y.

Is that enough, Mum?

- Yeah, plenty.
- Plenty.

- Buon appetito.

- Yeah.
- Buon appetito.

- Thank you. Didn't
think you're gonna have

agnolini in the summer,

did you, Ren?

This is terribly exciting.

- I have to say...
- Thank you, helpers.

- Thank you.
- Cheers.

I've heard a lot about you.

Yeah, it wasn't good.

- Oh, I know. I can imagine.

- Mmm, I can smell them, Angela.

- Yeah.
- Yeah, but that's...

that's delicious.
- They're very good, Ang.

The broth is delicious.
- Mmm.

Mmm.

- This is incredible.
- Mmm, very good.

- Absolutely incredible.

What these agnolini
lack in meat,

they more than make
up for in flavor.

I'm still waiting for
Angela's mother's approval.

- What'cha think, mum?

- Quality control.
- Very nice, thank you.

Tastes lovely.

- Angela's family gathering
together to make and eat

these amazing agnolini
brings back memories of home,

even a few generations later.

- And they still do it in Bardi.

- On a Thursday,
they will bake this.

- All right, now I'm gonna
have to make this at Christmas.

- Yeah, yeah.
- Yeah, yeah.

- Well, you've got a team.
You've got a team, right?

I have so many children.

- Exactly.
- Get them working.

- Yeah.

- I'm in Chelsea, a
charming neighborhood

renowned for its
tasteful boutiques

and picturesque streets.

I'm going to what might be

the only restaurant of
its kind in the world.

Rather than
specializing in dishes

from a specific region of Italy,

La Mia Mamma heralds
the art of home cooking

in a very unique way.

- Ciao, Signore
Stanley, how are you?

- Ciao, ciao, ciao. The
place is the brainchild

of Sicilian restauranteur
Peppe Corsaro.

- Did you have a
restaurant in Sicily?

- No, we didn't,
no. But actually,

when I came to London, you know,

I realized I was missing
Mamma's food lots.

You know, I lost about 20 kilos.

I was always, you know, "My
mom, she does it this way."

One of my friends, you know,
we're having a glass of wine,

and he said, "Why don't
you bring your mamma?"

You know, he was joking.

The following day,
I call my mum,

and she didn't even think twice.

- Every few months,
this restaurant

visits a new Italian region.

And not only does
the menu change,

so do the chefs.

These daring mothers
left their homes

in search of opportunity.

But somehow, they've
managed to bring

the best thing about
Italy to London.

- Peppe's sister, Sara,

was one of the first
mammas to join.

- You see, how many
different mammas do you have

at one time in the kitchen?

- Four, five.
- Really?

- Yeah, 'cause there's so many
beautiful regions in Italy.

Why limit ourselves
to one mamma item?

Why don't we bring mamma
from different region?

- This idea is a brilliant idea.

- Thank you.
- It's brilliant.

This month, the
restaurant's menu is set

by mothers Rosanna,
Patricia, and Angela.

Since they're from the
southern region of Campania,

they're going to teach me
a beloved Sunday classic.

So what are we doing?
- Okay.

- What are we making?
- Ragu.

- Napoletano.

- Ragu Napoletano.
- Yes.

- So what is that?
Explain that to me.

- Mmm.
- Oh...

- Look away now, if
you're a vegetarian.

The ragu Napoletano
is a symphony of meat:

beef ribs, cuts
of pork, sausages,

thinly-cut slices of steak,

are all browned, then
poached in red wine...

- And finally,

simmered in a cascade
of San Marzano tomatoes

until the meat is
falling off the bone.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Oh, when it bubbles?
- Yes!

Or like pops?

Pippiare. I've
never heard that.

The aroma of this classic
meat-based tomato sauce...

- You have to smell.
- Yes.

Is one I awakened to practically

every Sunday morning
of my childhood.

- Yeah, but it's a good...
- That smells really nice.

- Yes.
- And the mammas are indulging

my sense of longing
for those years.

- Yes, it's not allowed.

It's like no one is
allowed to do it.

- Yeah.
- But it's the best part.

Mmm, it's already so good.

You have to do
it. La scarpetta.

- Scarpetta, meaning
"little shoe,"

is how every Italian
child first tastes

their mother's ragu.

Yeah.

- Mmm.
- That's gonna be great.

No, you can tell... it
has that depth of flavor,

with all that.

- Si.
- Incredible.

Amazingly, none of
these brave women

had ever worked in a
professional kitchen

before coming here.

Few spoke any English at all.

But this city's given
them a new lust for life.

- Elementary school teacher?
- Si.

- How long have you been
here in the restaurant?

- Sexy.
- Wow!

That's the one
English word you know.

- She's flirting with you.
- We could be a thing?

- You know, there's no, like,
first course, second course.

It's like a feast.
At La Mammas,

they always keep cooking.
They keep bringing more food.

You cannot think,
"Okay, I'm full."

- Tomato, basil, yeah.

Sepia?
- Yeah.

- Oh, beautiful.
- Cuttlefish.

Mmm.

Oh!

Oh, my God.

- This is really delicious.

- The ragu, lovingly
simmered for six long hours,

just melts in your mouth.

With its promise of opportunity,

this city attracts immigrants
from across the globe.

But when each of these
adventurous mothers

arrive in London,

they bring a little slice
of their own home with them.

I'm about to explode,

but the mammas
won't let me leave

without a proper send-off.

Grazie!

- So whenever I'm missing home,

and my mother, I
know where to go.

Thank you.

Thank you. It was great.

I'll see you for breakfast.

Okay...

- This is London's
beating heart.

Historically, the meeting
point between the city's

wealthy west end and
working class east was Soho.

It's a place that's
always welcomed everyone.

So Italians, too,
have left their mark.

100 years ago, these
streets were home

to a network of
Italian businesses,

feeding and employing
the 13,000 Italians

who lived in this little Italy.

The Camisa brothers first
opened a grocery store here

on old Compton Street in 1929.

Let me get, then,

some tortellini.
- How much would you like?

- Enough for four
people who eat a lot.

- Four Italian portions.
- Yes, yes.

But in those days,

no British person, rich or poor,

would have stepped foot
in a place like this

to try low-class Italian food.

You have the sausage?
- Yeah, all done.

Yeah?
- Perfect, yes.

Ciao.

- Thanks a lot, bye-bye.
- Good to see you, bye.

- Just around the
corner, in 1926,

an Italian restaurant set
out to change all this

by pretending it wasn't an
Italian restaurant at all.

- So it's a cold
roast beef salad

with peaches, horseradish,
and watercress.

Wow.

- When Quo Vadis first
opened its doors,

French haute cuisine
was all the rage

in London's high society.

- Ooh, la la.

- Try and stagger
this as best you can

to avoid carnage.

Give us five minutes between
tables at least, yeah?

- Today, this restaurant
is run by Chef Jeremy Lee,

who's preparing us some of
Quo Vadis' famous dishes...

- It's complete heaven on Earth.

- From those early
trailblazing days.

Oh, it's pretty.

And joining me for lunch,

is an expert in Italian
immigration, Terry Copee..

- Oh, hello.
- Hi, how are you?

- How nice to see you.
- Nice to see you too.

Who like me, loves Italian food.

Hi.
- So we have got...

- Yes.
- And...

Beautiful.

Thank you.

- The chime at the end...
- Yes.

- That's so nice. So
this is chicken alla...

principessa, or
something like that.

- Mm-hmm. Delicious.

- Let's have a little
bit of this sage butter.

Mmm. Do you see
how I gave myself

the bigger piece?
Isn't that terrible?

Tradition dictates...

- I love it. Saltimbocca means

"to jump in your mouth."
- Exactly.

- All right, let's eat.

Oh, delicious.

How's the chicken?

- That is so delicious.

- The saltimbocca I recognize.

But I've never seen pollo alla
principessa on a menu before.

- Yeah, that sauce
is really tasty.

That's not...
- Oh, my God.

- Italian. That's
very French...

- It tastes more French to me.
- An idea that the sauce is.

- We have to get
Jeremy in. Jeremy!

- Hello, my darlings.
How are you?

- Good, how are you?
- Very well.

- This was delicious.
- Did you like those?

- Very much.
- Oh, my God.

It's delicious.
- There must have been a time

when they were the
height of modernity.

Now, it has become almost
dishes of antiquity.

- But so tell me, what is that?

- Well, princess' chicken...
I mean, anyone's guess really.

But there was a simmering of
porcini and shallot in butter,

which is then simmered
in white wine.

To which then added a
great glug of cream.

So I think, interestingly,
it was just like French food.

- So the sauce is
the principessa bit?

- Exactly. So I
think these dishes

with rich sauces were
really very haphazard homage

to an original.
- Yeah.

London's crème de la crme
lapped up these dishes.

But it was all a sleight of
hand dreamed up by Quo Vadis'

notorious owner, Peppino Leoni.

- The saltimbocca

wouldn't have been called
that, and certainly,

prosciutto de Parma...
- Yeah.

Was jambon de Parm.

- He was introducing Italian
foods into a cuisine...

- Sort of surreptitiously, yeah.

- Which was very French.
- Yeah.

That's really interesting.
- And of course, gradually,

it was translated
into Italian food.

- Even though it was Italian.
- Even though it was Italian.

- Yes, that's right, and
I think France and Italy

have always vied for supremacy.

- Yes, right.
- But I think what Peppino did,

was he must've been
amongst the first

to glamorize Italian cooking.

- Do we know what
kind of person he was?

- I think Leoni was very
much a man of his time.

He had fought in
the first world w*r.

- Yes, that's right.
- In the Italian army,

and he was very much a patriot.

- Mm-hmm.
- I do believe

he was certainly a
supporter of fascism.

- Just as Leoni had managed
to convince Londoners

to eat Italian food,
history got in the way.

A dangerous wave of nationalism

was gripping Italy.

Led by Benito Mussolini,

the fascists weaponized
Italian food,

and in 1937, established
a headquarters here

in the heart of Little Italy,

to advocate for the supremacy
of their own cuisine.

- Italians are now, for the
first time, our enemies.

And in Soho, friendly
little restaurants

decide to remove evidence
of their nationality.

Down come the Italian signs.

- When Italy declared
w*r on Britain,

Leoni was arrested.

But he wasn't the only one.

Every single Italian
male over the age of 16

was rounded up and interned
in camps outside of London.

When the w*r ended, some
Italians returned to Soho

and went back to doing
what they did best.

- Decades later, the food
that was once reviled,

is now adored as Londoners
have embraced something

that is quintessentially
Italian.

Who could've imagined that
this little cup of espresso...

Grazie. Would become a symbol

of Italian glamor and the
taste of la dulce vida

all over the world?

- I'm heading west out
of the center of London

on the trail of a
revolution in Italian food.

So much Italian
cooking in the city

celebrates authentic ingredients

imported from Italy.

But here, in the
suburb of Acton,

a famous Italian product

is being taken in a
totally new direction.

Acton, the mozzarella
capital of London.

Who knew?

I've come to La Latteria...

Thank you, sir.

A dairy dedicated to the craft

of traditional
Italian cheese-making.

The brains behind this
mozzarella super lab

is former investment
banker, Simona de Vietri.

So what are you doing here?

Mozzarella, what else?

- Why are you making
mozzarella in Acton?

- Well, it started with me
leaving Italy 20 years ago.

- Yeah?
- And my parents,

every time they were
coming to see me,

the first thing they
would pack was mozzarella.

That was my only time when
I used to have mozzarella.

- Leaving her well-paid
job in finance,

Simona spent a year searching
the world for the perfect milk

to make mozzarella.

But she soon came to realize

that rather than
importing ingredients,

she could take a local
product and transform it.

All the milk you
use is British milk?

- British.
- And you like

the British milk?
- I love the British milk.

- Why do you like it?

- Because the flavor
is slightly richer.

Reason is the grass.

Makes also difference on
the color of the milk.

Here is more yellowish.
- It is yellow, yeah.

- You see? Did you notice?

- Yeah, this is
completely different

than what I saw in Italy.

- The animal eats and then
goes straight into the milk.

- Yeah.

The magic of mozzarella begins
when rennet is added to milk

to separate the curds and whey.

- Yeah, it's incredible.
- Which you can see...

- It's like a magician.
- Exact.

You try this.
- Like a pork pie.

- Like a cake.
- Like a cake.

- Look at that.
- Yeah.

- Look at all the milk.
- Look at that...

Oh I know. Look
at it comin' out.

- It's still warm.

- I love that.

And it's so comforting.
The warmth of it and the...

Everything about it.

Oh, it's so good.

Even more wonderful
than Simona's mozzarella

is another cheese her team makes

using her mozzarella.

It looks almost identical.

But it's a ball of
deliciousness called burrata

from "burro,"
Italian for "butter."

- So I show you the burratas.

- Oh, yeah.
- It's flat.

- That literally looks
like a thing of pasta,

like lasagna.

- So then, look
what he does now.

He goes from the middle,
and he's gonna shred it

into lines of mozzarella.

- Stracciatella.

You mix the Stracciatella
with the cream and salt.

Now, this is the
filling of your burrata.

- Right.
- Can you see

he's making a pouch?

And then put the Stracciatella.

- So that's what burrata is?
- That's what it is.

Ta-da!

- So simple.
- Very simple.

I mean, in theory.

It's taken time to
win Londoners over.

Many chefs initially refused
to work with a mozzarella

that wasn't made
in southern Italy.

But today, Simona's burrata
is earning its place

on the menus of some of
the city's top restaurants.

- Burrata?
- Thank you so much.

- Now, enjoy.
- Thanks a lot.

Thank you.

Ooh, wow. Look at that.

Oh! Come on.

Well...

She was right.

That's really good.

Oh.

Food has always been

an immigrant's
strongest link to home.

For over a century, it's
how Italian immigrants

have defined who they are,
and where they come from.

But enclosed within this
little mother of pearl cheese,

is perhaps the future
of Italian gastronomy.

That's really delicious.