'Simonetta invites you to the table, with a menu of intimate stories and confidently unfussy recipes. This book is heartfelt and captivating' Yotam Ottolenghi

In 2007, Simonetta and her husband made the quixotic decision to open a restaurant. Without any relevant experience IT engineer Avi and novelist Simonetta put aside their careers to throw themselves (and their three young children) into their dream.

This is the story of Ida, a tiny resilient restaurant situated on an unlovely arterial road between Kilburn and Kensal Rise, a barren thoroughfare with few shops and zero passing trade. A restaurant that survived (only just) the 2008 economic crash and the pandemic lockdown to become an internationally renowned haven of Italian home cooking. But this is much more than the rise, fall and phoenix-like resurrection of the unlikely restaurant. Avi and Simonetta’s vision was formed by generations before them, spanning countries from Israel to Austria and Greece, with Britain providing the home for Ida’s regional Italian menu. Those cultures have informed their own family and identity as much as that of the restaurant. This is a book for anyone who has ever fantasised about painting a name over a door and creating a refuge of delight for their neighbourhood.

And it’s for anyone who sees the beauty in serving the food you have prepared with love for the people you love – as well as the beauty in eating it. In her crystalline novelist’s prose, Simonetta has written a recipe-filled memoir that will delight fans of Stanley Tucci, Mary Contini, and Rachel Roddy.