Chef Maria Jakubiec with Daisy Green founder Prue Freeman

IT might just have been the most famous sauce in north London, part of the Neapolitan pasta recipe from the D’Auria family which diners loved for more than 40 years.

So perhaps it wasn’t a surprise that when the Parliament Hill Fields café opened this week under new management, one of the first customers asked for pasta.

Daisy Green, which runs a series of upmarket eateries across London, opened up for business on the Heath this week and has retained long-serving cook Maria Jakubiec.

She said: “We had one regular who came in as soon as we opened and not only ordered pasta for all her family, but requested we give her portions of the Neapolitan sauce I have made for 35 years in jars to take home with her.

“She said of all the things she had missed during the café being closed, it was this – so we happily obliged.”

The D’Auria family stepped away from the café in January following a City of London tendering process, and Daisy Green said its menu here draws heavily on the dishes which made it so popular.

Prices have been pegged at previous levels, a new pizza oven has been installed and Heath-related art has been hung on walls including works by John Constable.

Six out of the 10 pasta meals previously served by the D’Auria’s are still available.

New furniture and a redesign of the space has allowed them the company to go from around 100 covers to nearly 250.

Daisy Green owner Prue Freeman said: “Customers are so pleased to see their café back open – and we’ve had lovely feedback and suggestions over things like earlier opening times and additions to the menu, alongside the D’Auria classics.”

Ms Freeman’s company faced a backlash when it was handed the contract – after regulars said they did not want a chain to take over. The City of London maintains Daisy Green is not a chain, as each branch in its portfolio is not identical.

The controversy continues with a legal challenge at the Lido café, where it has been told it can take over. Current proprietors Emma Fernandez and Patrick Matthews are challenging the tendering process.