Minute on the clock: Filippo La Gattuta, executive chef for the Big Mamma Group

08 November 2022 by
Minute on the clock: Filippo La Gattuta, executive chef for the Big Mamma Group

The executive chef for the Big Mamma Group in the UK talks about serving up social media sensations and the importance of having fun

How did you come to join the Big Mamma Group?

I was working in Paris when my chef called me into his office and said "Filippo, I cannot give you more than this". I had worked in every section, I was a senior chef de partie and there was no opportunity for me to become a sous chef or more.

He gave me the number of one of the Big Mamma founders and I called him and listened to what they wanted to do. My first interview was in 2014 and I decided to go for the opening of the first restaurant in the group, East Mamma in Paris in 2015. It's been a long love story and I'm still here and I still enjoy my job. Now I am in charge of all the restaurants in the UK. We have had great results and we love our restaurants. I particularly love Gloria because it's the first baby we had here in London.

How much did you lean on the menus from the Paris restaurants when devising the offering for Gloria?

It was very difficult to put together a menu for London. I wasn't aware of the type of client in London. They request more than the Parisian client, for example, so we had to develop something a little bit different. In Paris we sell three times the amount of pizza we do in London, whereas here it's 70% pasta and 30% pizza. This means I need the structure in the kitchen to produce pasta.

On opening several dishes immediately went viral across social media, including the carbonara and the lofty lemon meringue pie – did this surprise you?

This was another surprise. We developed the carbonara for London and serve it in a huge wheel of Pecorino in front of the client. It's a typical Italian dish, everyone loves carbonara and we still sell a lot.

How much of a consideration is that element of fun and theatre when developing dishes?

That's part of a culture at Big Mamma. We want the client to spend the best part of the day in our restaurant, so that means first of all they have to eat a great dish of pasta, as in Italy, and also the waiters must have huge smiles and there must be some show, because it's fun.

Our inspiration still comes from one of our founders, Victor [Lugger], who pushes us to produce dishes that are experiential. That's why we create the carbonara and our lemon meringue pie, because we want to give some great moments to the client, not only with taste but with the eye too.

How integral do you think that is to the atmosphere of the restaurants?

It's important for us to give this experience to the clients because we enjoy what we do and we want the client to enjoy it as well. We are not fine dining – it's loud and the playlist is completely crazy, but we want to give this to the client.

Has Brexit affected the sourcing of products from Italy?

We have a team in charge of sourcing and we still buy direct from Italy from a lot of small producers. When the team find the right product they send it to the chefs and we taste it and validate it. We are always looking for the small diamond. That's very important – it's our soul.

Are you still recruiting heavily from Italy?

No, not at the moment, because of Brexit. We can sponsor visas for people coming from Europe and we want to do this for the new opening, for example, but we have to try the system because it's the first time.

Are there dishes you cannot take off the menu?

Carbonara, truffle pasta and lemon pie. At Gloria we removed the lemon pie for two or three months and you can't imagine the number of complaints.

Image: Joakim Blockstrom

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