This article is part of FT Globetrotter’s guide to London
It is paramount to have a good local café. A place to cure a hangover, have coffee and read or catch up with friends. Not too fancy, decently priced, preferably with decent tunes to soundtrack the hum of the regulars chatting, and, of course, it must serve a great fry-up. But, above all, it needs to have atmosphere, that indefinable feel of a greasy spoon or “caff” — a British establishment defined by a medley of cheapness, community, fried goods and that feel. Whatever that is, Mario’s Café has it.
Tucked away off Kentish Town Road in north London, Mario’s is a neighbourhood staple for locals dropping in for a drink, dining on the delectable yet inexpensive breakfast and lunch options or simply looking for a chat. The cosy space, hosting just eight small tables, offers all the breakfast necessities: a full fry-up, eggs on toast (scrambled, poached, royal, florentine and Benedict) and muesli for those looking for healthier options, alongside — for lunchtime punters — traditional Italian food such as bolognese, lasagne and other pasta dishes.
Each punter is met by the caff’s greatest draw, Mario Saggese, 56, the owner, host, barista, server and chef. He floats among the customers, sitting down to chat, bringing coffee, food and an infectious amicability to all who come and go.
Saggese says he’s blessed with a group of around 35 hardcore regulars who are now part of the furniture. “They’ve become part of a second family,” he says, “beyond customers.” So when first-time visitors come, “that’s what they latch on to”, he says. That feeling (one that the British band Saint Etienne captured beautifully on their 1993 track “Mario’s Café”).
On a recent Saturday when I stop in, the café is busy with an eclectic mix of people — a family enjoying breakfast, a couple of twentysomethings waiting for their food and a few, like myself, dining alone.
Saggese brings me his classic fry-up: bacon, sausages, eggs, tomatoes, beans, toast, and a side of chips. Simple and effective, his cooked breakfast tastes of a higher quality than that of the traditional greasy spoon. “The ingredients have to be fresh,” he says. “If you’re cooking a frozen sausage and chucking it in a fryer, forget it.” Saggese grew up on bacon sandwiches and the like in London caffs and is passionate about the English breakfast. “You’ve got to know [how to make it],” he says.
Mario’s wasn’t always called Mario’s; first, it was Tony’s, named after Saggese’s father. After moving to London in the 1950s, Saggese’s grandfather (also called Mario), set up Tony’s Restaurant in 1958. Financial difficulties at the café led to it temporarily shutting and briefly hosting a Chinese restaurant. Tony reopened the café in 1989, and, like his father, he named it after his culinary heir — Mario.
At first, in his early 20s, Saggese begrudged working at the counter but eventually he grew to love the place. “I kind of did what I do naturally, which is talk,” he says. By 1994, he was running the café himself, after his father suffered a heart attack.
As a kid, he frequented Italian social clubs with his father, where the diaspora would gather to relax, socialise and play the card game briscola and pool. “I always liked that vibe,” he says. “I always liked the fact that it was a community place.” He sought to bring that atmosphere to his own venue — that “feeling of people coming in and drinking coffee and chatting”.
Today, Mario’s buzzes with the sound of regular customers conversing among themselves and with their amicable host. One, Barry Man, tells me he’s been visiting the café since the second day it opened 36 years ago (the lasagne is his favourite dish). “All of my kids have been brought up in Mario’s,” he says.
Another customer I chat to, Phil Thops, whose usual order is two sausages and two poached eggs on toast with a side of chips, also tells me he’s been coming here for years. After his first visit, “it just felt like home,” he says — so much so that he and his family moved houses to be closer to Mario’s a few years ago.
Later, for lunch, Saggese hands me one of his signature dishes: a spicy sausage pasta with a rich, creamy tomato sauce. Alongside — after Thops’ recommendation — a portion of chicken, potato and bean tray bake, topped with a slice of lemon. The dishes sing of homely Italian cooking. “All the cooking I do is just from seeing what [my parents] did,” Saggese says, with many recipes informed by Pugliese tradition.
Over the past five years or so, Saggese tells me, he’s noticed an uptick in his venue’s popularity, particularly among young people, who he thinks “have kind of woken up and literally smelled the coffee”. They’ve turned away from coffee chains and overpriced hipster spots, searching instead for community. “People do need places like this a lot more now,” Saggese says. “Somewhere to go to where they know people are going to say hello.”
I ask Thops what draws him back to Mario’s each week. “Mario,” he says with a smile, before taking another sip of his coffee.
Mario’s Café, 6 Kelly Street, London NW1 8PH, open 8am–4pm, Wednesday–Saturday. Website; Directions
This article is part of a new series on local gems: the understated neighbourhood restaurants that combine excellent, relatively affordable food with a sense of community. Do you have a favourite local gem? Tell us in the comments
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