This article is part of FT Globetrotter’s London
Foremost to have a good local cafe. A place to cure a hanging, drink coffee and read or catch friends. Not too decorated, with a worthy price, preferably with good tunes to make sounds the loss of the rules that talk, and, of course, it should serve a great rash. But, above all, it must have atmosphere, that indefinable feeling of a greasy or “Caffa” spoon – a British institution determined by a free mix, community, fried goods and THAT feel whatever THAT It is, Mario’s coffee has it.
Leaving Kentish Town Road in northern London, Mario’s is a staple of neighborhoods for locals falling for a drink, eating in the pleasant but cheap breakfast and lunch options or just looking for a conversation. Cozy space, waiting for only eight small tables, offers all the morning needs: a full rash, toasting eggs (scrambled, shredded, royal, florentine and Benedict) and Muesli for those looking for healthier opportunities, together-for lunch workshops-traditional Italian and other Bologne.
Each worker is fulfilled by the biggest coffee draw, Mario Saggese, 56, the owner, the host, the barista, the server and the chef. He swims among clients, sitting down to chat, bringing coffee, food and an infectious friendship to all who come and go.
Saggese says he is blessed with a group of about 35 hardcore rules that are now part of the furniture. “They have become part of a second family,” he says, “beyond clients”. So when visitors come for the first time, “this is what they gather,” he says. This feeling (one that the British group Saint Etienne grabbed their 1993 path “Mario’s Café”).
Last Saturday when I stopped, the cafe is busy with an eclectic mix of people – a family that tastes breakfast, a couple of twenties waiting for their food and some, like me, meals alone.
Saggese brings me his classic redness: bacon, sausages, eggs, tomatoes, beans, toast and a side of chips. Simple and effective, its cooked morning tastes with a higher quality than that of the traditional fatty spoon. “The ingredients should be fresh,” he says. “If you are cooking a frozen sauce and grabbing it in a pan, forget it.” Saggese grew up in bacon and similar sandwiches in London Caffs and is passionate about English breakfast. “You have known (how to do it),” he says.
Mario was not always called Mario; First, it was Tony, named after the father of Saggese. After moving to London in the 1950s, Saggese’s grandfather (also called Mario) set up Tony’s restaurant in 1958. Financial difficulties in cafes led to its temporary closure and for a short time waiting for a Chinese restaurant. Tony reopening the cafe in 1989 and, like his father, he called him after his culinary heir – Mario.
In the beginning, in the early 20s, Saggese cheated on the counter, but eventually he grew up to love the country. “I did what I do what I do naturally, which is conversation,” he says. By 1994, he was running the cafe himself as his father suffered a heart attack.
As a child, he attended the Italian social clubs with his father, where the diaspora would be gathered to relax, accompany and play the Briscola and Pool card game. “I always liked that vibe,” he says. “I always liked the fact that it was a community country.” He tried to bring that atmosphere to his place – that “the feeling of people who went inside and drink coffee and talk”.
Today, Mario’s buzz with the sound of regular customers talking to each other and their friendly host. One, Barry Man, tells me that he has been visiting the café since the second day that was opened 36 years ago (Lasagne is his favorite dish). “All my children have grown up in Mario,” he says.
Another client I chat with, Phil Thops, whose ordinary order is two sausages and two eggs chopped in toast with one side of the chips, he also tells me that he was coming here for years. After his first visit, “just felt like a house,” he says – so much that he and his family moved the houses to be closer to Mario a few years ago.
Later, for lunch, Saggese gives me one of his signature dishes: a spicy pasta with a rich, soft tomato sauce. Along after the recommendation of thops – a piece of baking chicken, potatoes and beans, topped with a slice of lemon. The dishes sing from the cooking of the Italian house. “All the cooking I do is just to see what they did (my parents),” says Saggese, with many recipes informed by Pugliee’s tradition.
Over the past five years, Saggese tells me, he has noticed an attack on the popularity of his country, especially among the young people, who he thinks “have awakened and literally smells coffee”. They have left the coffee chains and excess hipster points, looking for the community instead. “People need places like this much more now,” Saggese says. “Somewhere to go where they know people will say hello.”
I ask thops what pulls it back to Mario every week. “Mario,” he says with a smile, before taking another sip of his coffee.
Mario’s Café, 6 Kelly Street, London NW1 8P, Open 8 AM – 4 Afternoon, Wednesday – Saturday. Website; Direction
This article is part of a new series for local gems: underrated neighborhood restaurants that combine excellent, relatively affordable food with a sense of community. Do you have a favorite local gem? Tell us in the comments
Follow FT Globetrotter on Instagram at @Ftglobetrotter
Cities with ft
Ft Globetrotter, our internal guides for some of the largest cities in the world, offers expert tips for eating and drinking, training, art and culture – and much more
Find in London, Tokyo, New York, Paris, Lagos, Rome, Frankfurt, Singapore, Hong Kong, Miami, Toronto, Madrid, Melbourne, Copenhagen, Zürich, Milan, Vancouver, Edinburgh and Venice
