In a sea of chain restaurants and groups opening carefully designed restaurants by the dozen, some decide to sail on their own to create a curated atmosphere and authentic, high-quality cookery. We decided to talk to the good people at Mele e Pere, an Italian trattoria that has remained truly independent for the last 15 years and plans to stay independent. On Brewer Street in Soho, nestled between clothing shops and trendy cafes, you might stumble onto a bright neon sign that says, Mele e Pere. If it looks small from the outside, it’s only because the magic happens downstairs. As you walk down the stairs, you’ll find yourself transported to an Italian trattoria that boasts the largest collection of Vermouths in London, including its own house vermouth made on site.
Mele e Pere opened 15 years ago, run by brothers Peter and Chris Hughes and business partner Andrea Mantovani. The Cold Magazine sat down with Peter Hughes to chat about what makes this authentic trattoria in the heart of London different from neighbouring Italian restaurants and the path that led him, his brother and his friends to run a place that they had been looking for in the city.
The Cold Magazine (CM): When did you guys start Mele e Pere?
Peter Hughes (PH): We’re coming up to 15 years now; we opened in 2012. We’re just about to renew our 15-year lease.
CM: What was the original idea behind opening Mele e Pere?
PH: So it’s me, my brother Chris, and our business partner, Andrea. Chris and I’s family is Scottish, from Glasgow, but our parents moved to Milan. We were both born in Milan, and we grew up going to restaurants and being immersed in Italian food and culture. Andrea is from Verona, also in the north of Italy. We met working in a Michelin star restaurant when we were in our 20s. We wanted to create a trattoria that was reminiscent of the places where we grew up in. The kind of place where all the pasta is homemade and all the ingredients are really fresh and authentic. And we wanted to bring that into Soho. We love Soho, we think that it’s the most interesting and most vibrant kind of neighbourhood. So there’s a kind of marriage of those two things: the rustic Italian trattoria where everything’s homemade and the modern kind of fuzzy, interesting neighbourhood, which is Soho.
CM: You said yourself and Andrea met working in a Michelin kitchen, was that in London? And how does your brother come into the equation?
PH: In London, yeah, in Mayfair. So, Andrea was a chef and I was a chef at the time and we were working together.
He [Chris] came from a slightly different background; he works more on the beverage side of things, so drinks and cocktails. It’s part of that concept where we make everything in house – we also make our own vermouth. As well as being a trattoria, we’re a Vermouth bar. Amongst many other things, Chris is also the guy behind the vermouth making.
CM: How has Mele e Pere evolved over the past 15 years?
PH: We’re always evolving. A big thing for us is that we’re independent. We’re here on the ground all the time, and so for us, it’s very much a labour of love, we’re constantly curating the space. We just did some painting outside to refresh the shop front. We always change the menus with the seasons, as well as the drinks. Chris has just launched some new drinks last week. We’ve been doing that for 15 years, and we’re still here on the ground. That’s one of the things that’s special to Mele e Pere, we’re still here driving it; a lot of places in Soho are franchises or have big corporations that also have restaurants in Paris and all over the place. We want to focus on making this place as beautiful as it can be and experiences as great as it can be.
CM: As an Italian restaurant owner, how would you say that the Italian restaurant scene has changed in London since you opened in 2012?
PH: I think there have been quite a few big, what I would call international chains that have come, and they do Italian concepts fairly well, but I think they’re missing that extra touch and the love that you get when it’s a proper independent. But I think there’s still a space for a real trattoria.
CM: Can you tell us a bit more about the Vermouth?
PH: We say we have London’s largest selection of Vermouths, and no one has contradicted us yet. So we keep saying it, you can see them all there [behind the bar]. There’s a big range. We have the really old traditional vermouth houses, like Carpano, in Northern Italy. They make what is generally understood to be the oldest vermouth in the world. Then some of the traditional French houses like Dolin as well. But also some really modern ones. Some micro distilleries make one or two products. Some of it is in Europe, from the traditional vermouth countries like France, Italy, Spain, but it can be from anywhere; we’ve got vermouths from Australia, from the USA, from all sorts of far flung places.
CM: What would be your perfect order or evening at Mele e Pere?
PH: The perfect night at Mele would be you’d come in and have a drink at the Vermouth bar. My favourite cocktail is a Negroni. So we would recommend you have some of our signature Ascolana olives [deep fried n’duja stuffed olives], which are delicious bar snacks with a cocktail. The Negroni is a very classic drink, but we make it with our own homemade vermouth which you can only get here. A couple of drinks at the bar, and then into the trattoria, and I would normally push people towards our homemade pasta because we make all the pasta in house. My favourite on the menu at the moment would be, the pappardelle with the duck ragù and the truffle. Or, if not that, the traditional lasagna bolognese; that’s been added on the menu fairly recently. And it’s a really, really traditional lasagna made with green pasta (with spinach in the pasta) and lots of layers of pork and beef, ragù, and béchamel. It’s really, really indulgent and fantastic.
CM: What’s next for Mele e Pere?
PH: We’re just going to keep curating and making it as good as we can. We do a vermouth masterclass. We know this really good producer from England so it’s a vermouth tasting and a cocktail class. We’re also gonna do some supper clubs later in the year as well.
