This tiny, family-run Campanian kitchen is proof, if any were needed, that independent Italians do it better
Pre-lunch at Bottega Caruso, a tiny Campanian kitchen with just six or seven tables and serving southern Italian classics, it struck me that of all the British seaside towns currently being “re-loved”, Margate is looking especially well. It’s not easy to nurture an old town into something prettier while retaining its former quirky charm. Planners have puzzled about Blackpool for decades, while brides-to-be in penis costumes have vomited over it. Suffolk’s coast was re-loved tastefully and with gusto in the mid-2000s, until it became one large, indistinguishable boutique run by a woman from Notting Hill who flogs batik tea towels and spelt flour scones, and opens on just three afternoons a week.
Margate’s revamp, however, feels more incremental: one art gallery, one cafe, one reopened theme park at a time, but you can still do a big shop at Morrisons. Harry Ryder and Simona Di Dio opened a small deli selling fresh pasta and Campanian produce in late 2017. In this pretty building, which was once a 19th-century pub called The Crown, they sell passata made by Simona’s family in Foglianise in Benevento, close to Naples, and wine from Sannio, alongside pickles, olive oil, cheese, salumi, ’nduja, chocolate and herbs.
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