Family Matters: A Conversation With Simonetta Wenkert and Fiammetta Reichenbach

The family-run Italian corner restaurant where food is a deeply personal matter

On a blustery afternoon at a seafront café in Margate, we met with Simonetta Wenkert and her daughter Fiammetta to discuss their family restaurant, Ida. Based in a Grade II-listed corner shop building in Queen’s Park, west London, it’s beloved by locals and visitors from further afield for its home-style Italian cooking.  

Ida is a touchstone not only of the neighbourhood, but also of the family’s own multi-generational story. Founded in 2007 by Simonetta and her husband Avi, it’s named after Avi’s mother whose cooking has shaped the generations after her. A hub for gathering together, the restaurant has survived turbulent times including the recession and pandemic lockdown. Simonetta recently published a book titled Ida at My Table – an unconventional memoir-with-recipes that maps the story of the restaurant, and the family history that preceded it.

What was the story behind your decision to open the restaurant?

Simonetta: Ida, my husband Avi’s mother, came from a foodie region and a particularly foodie family in Italy. She was working in a hospital and fell in love with a foreign hospital doctor, a heartthrob, their grandfather. He was imprisoned and put in a concentration camp, then they were reunited after the war and moved to Israel, and Ida was incredibly homesick – cooking represented a connection to family.  

Avi learnt to cook just by watching her. By the time we lived in London, he'd always thought old-school, home-cooked Italian food was missing here – he wanted to do handmade, hand-rolled pasta. I didn't know much about business, but I did like the idea of an adventure and starting something new. So all the stars aligned in a way.  

Fiammetta: Ida became more yours than his in the end. My mum genuinely created a community out of that restaurant. She can't walk two minutes down the street without meeting 20 people.

Are any of your core dishes still based on Ida's original recipes?

Simonetta: Yes. She was from the Marche, near Tuscany. It didn't have a main highway going through it for a long time, it was quite difficult to get to. It's a foodie region, with lots of agriculture. The Ragù that we do is from there, that never changes, and the way we make our pasta never changes either. Another thing that’s never off the menu is the Molinata, which is a Puglian dish – it's a broad bean puree, a poor man's food.

Do you have any non-negotiables for your cooking processes?

Simonetta: Ultimately, everything that you eat at Ida, a good Italian home cook would make. My husband has always said the best food you eat in Italy is in people's homes. When we lived in Rome, we never ate out. Because he was such a good cook, as were his mother and his sister. So it's got to be home-style cooking – that’s one of the non-negotiables.

What kind of atmosphere did you want to create with the interior?

Simonetta: It’s more Greek than Italian. I lived in Greece for a long time, and I like the combination of old interiors with something sparkling clean – that very Greek aesthetic of dark furniture and then blinding white linen tablecloths and curtains. Cafes in Athens look a lot more like Ida than Italian cafes do. The children did a lot of the artwork for the walls before we first opened – I remember buying a whole bunch of art stuff and canvases, to keep them busy while we were working.

How important is the social aspect to running a restaurant?

Simonetta: I really like seeing people enjoying themselves. I love it. There's nothing that gives me more pleasure.  

If I come in after service, I never know who I'll find there. Quite often, it’ll be somebody I've never seen before, but then they'll tell me their name, they’ll have come in for supper and be having a drink afterwards. I'm happy about that, because it means that for Fiammetta and her sister, Ida is an extension of their home. I love it when they bring their friends. Her boyfriend and her sister regularly have Sunday lunch together while she's working.  

Fiammetta: It's so nice. That’s part of the charm of Ida, and I don't think we could ever even write out instructions on how to run the place without a family member there. We just really take everything personally.

Simonetta, you once wrote, ‘The women of the family I married into spoke food as though it were a real language.’ If food was a form of communication, what would you like it to say at Ida?

Simonetta: My husband really does communicate through food. For example, if we come back at midnight off a flight, most normal people would just have a cup of tea or a sandwich and go to bed, but he will think it's really worth it to make a five minute sauce. And you say, don't bother – but then the moment that food comes on the table, we're home. Food is comfort, it's familiarity.  

Fiammetta: There's nothing worse than, ‘I remember it better last time’. So we try to be as consistent as possible. And Papa really does have that attention to detail. If a plate comes back with a morsel on it, he'll say, ‘Did they not like it?’ And I'll be like, yes, they did – it was a 98 year old woman, who couldn't possibly put away all that food. But still, it will still keep him up at night. He cares so much. It's a love language.

Are there any cult dishes at Ida?

Fiammetta: A local customer comes every Sunday and has the same thing, the Amatriciana. He can't get enough, he doesn't care about branching out.  

Simonetta: Amatriciana is a really old-school, rough and ready Roman recipe. It's pork cheek, which is incredibly fatty, and tomatoes, and pecorino cheese. So it's kind of salty, and smoky, and tomato-y. We have a following of Romans, who will come on Sunday just to have it. Some people get it tattooed on them, that’s how much they like it. And funnily enough that's not even a dish that Avi eats himself, but he knows what it should taste like, he knows what people like, and he will do every step as slow as it takes.   

Fiammetta: It’s the most simple food. Deceptively simple, but delicious. But my mum’s also an incredible chef – you’re a witch. You'd have been good in the Blitz. She could have a cupboard full of ingredients that have nothing to do with each other and make a feast fit for a king, I don't know how. She can make the most delicious potion out of nothing.   

Simonetta: Yeah, but then Fiammetta is the boss. She’s constantly saying, ‘Ma, stop faffing around.’   

Fiammetta: You get distracted at the crucial moment – you’ll be on Instagram! But you're both such amazing cooks.

Ida at My Table: A story of family, food and finding home by Simonetta Wenkert
Or book a table at idarestaurant.co.uk