Mimmo Rimoli outside his restaurant in South End Green

MIMMO Rimoli first fired up the stoves on his South End Green restaurant in 2000 – and as he celebrates 25 years running Mimmo La Bufala, he still feels a sense of pure joy as diners tuck into his award-winning, traditional fare.

Every dish served up reminds him of his mother, Zoe, and his Nonna, Sandra, who passed down a nation’s passion for great food.

Last week Mimmo hosted a special 25th anniversary celebration that saw regulars flock to wish him and his family success – and seeing his restaurant full is what still inspires him today.

“I have done this all my life,” he told the New Journal. “I just love to be with people. When you create that relationship with someone who comes into your place to eat, you make a friend. What could be better than that?”

Mimmo grew up in Florence and was surrounded by a culinary culture.

His uncles ran restaurants in Naples and he and his three brothers established a number of award winning restaurants throughout Italy, until he moved to South End Green 25 years ago.

He said: “Great food is so embedded in Italian culture, it is impossible to avoid it. Every region has a huge range of dishes – there are thousands and thousands of recipes you can draw on – and in each region, you can travel from one village to the next and find a different take on a dish using the same basic ingredients – onions, garlic, tomatoes, carrots and celery. It means you can constantly explore and learn.”

It means producing menus that draw on centuries of kitchen wizardry.

He said: “I am not interested in nouvelle cuisine or fusion menus. I have always wanted to focus on traditional recipes. I believe it is better to specialise in a proper traditional way, and focus on doing it really well. An Italian restaurant should be just that – a celebration of Italian food, and that means using original recipes.”

Mimmo La Buffala

And the fact that Mimmo and his wife Susan have created a place where people feel at home is reflected in the fact the restaurant has diners who have been coming for years.

He said: “We have been supported so well by the fantastic communities around here – people from South End Green, Hampstead, Belsize Park, Highgate, Gospel Oak – they have all been wonderful to get to know. The summer here is just fantastic. We have many regulars. We have watched families grow up on our food.”

It has not always been plain sailing – when the 2008 banking crisis caused a recession, and regulars who visited to get a taste of authentic Italian food moved away from London. “I remember when the crash hit – people from France, Italy and Germany working here, and loved our food, moved away,” he said.

Party time at the restaurant

And then there were the floods that swamped the area two years ago.

He said: “I am the type of person who gets on with it. When the street flooded, I came in, cleaned up and we were open 24 hours later.”

Mimmo has watched South End Green evolve.

He said: “Today, there are four coffee chains here. It shows the attraction of South End Green – and alongside ourselves, there is Curry Paradise and Zara, who have been here for longer than us, all specialising in great food.”

And after 25 years, the passion for sharing great food has not diminished.

He added: “The food I eat is related to how I feel – it brings me so much pleasure. And of course the most important thing for me throughout all the years is seeing people come in and enjoy themselves.

“I just live to see people happy – that’s what charges my battery each day.”