Antonio Delicatessen
Antonio Nigro
When I arrived in London aged 19, I was shocked because I come from a village of just 4,500 people in Puglia, in the heel of Italy. I took a job washing dishes at an Italian restaurant in north London and worked my way up to sous-chef. It was very hard, but after five years I was able to put some money aside which I used to buy this place from an Italian family that had run it since the early 1980s.
You can imagine after 20 years I’ve heard so many stories – so many lives, so many problems, so many sad things but so many beautiful things also. Sometimes you get very close to your customers – it’s like they become a part of your existence.
When we close at night and I see my staff, even if they are tired, they are happy because they’ve had a good day with me, my customers are happy and when I get home, my kids are happy to see me. There is nothing better than when what you do is appreciated. It’s the biggest motivation you could have.
All images: Elzbieta Piekacz
