F Word Series 5 F Word: Salvo's interview

Meet Salvo's rivals

Date Published:

27/10/2009

Salvo's Italian Restaurant & Salumeria in Headingley, Leeds, is one of the Italian restaurants competing in Gordon's F Word search for Britain's Best Local Restaurant

Read the interview with Salvo's Gip Dammone and Chris Jackson about why they think they were nominated and what they really think of Gordon.

How did you feel when you found out that you made it onto The F Word?

Gip: Well, we were delighted of course! Big cheer from the kitchen! I mean it doesn't really get much better than being nominated for the best neighbourhood restaurant in the UK because that's exactly what Salvo's is - it's a neighbourhood restaurant through and through. The restaurant gets used for many things as part of the neighbourhood so that's why we’re absolutely delighted and, at the farmers market the following Saturday, we went through and everybody knew - so it's just fantastic for our little part of the world as well.

How did you find out?

Gip: When we first got nominated, it was a telephone call and you… they keep it close to the chest, these people. Well, we danced around, we got excited, we got frightened, then we laughed and then we got confident, and then we got unconfident. And so we got a few more phonecalls and it came up and it all settled down and we knew then we were in for a battle.

Chris: When we first got told by Gordon that we'd be coming here, I was on the other side of the restaurant and we just sort of, like, danced up in the air and started kissing each other.

Gip: Gordon said, 'You're down to the last 16,' and when I turned round a little later they'd all gone to the pub!

Why do you think you were nominated?

Gip: Well, we have been there now for 33 years. We are a fabric of our neighbourhood. We cook pretty honest food, we use local people around us - not because it's trendy, because we buy off them and they buy off us and that's what neighbourhood is all about. We get veg from two miles down the road - not all, but we take everything he does when he does it, plus loads of other stuff - we are a neighbourhood restaurant and I hope that people voted for us, for that neighbourhood touch. The food, again, like a lot of Italian restaurants in Italy, it's a given that, when you go into a restaurant, the food's got to be of a certain quality and we try to keep it honest; keep it fresh. We're cooking food from the south - that's where we're from - so we ain't doing fancy things, we're doing Southern soul food; Italian soul food. Like, when you finish, you smack your lips and you go, 'Bloody hell, I wish that was a bit bigger'. That's what our kind of food is about, so it's not fancy.

Do you have any chefs who are your inspiration?

Gip: My mum and my auntie were my big inspirations - not on recipes, but on the way they did things.

You chose spinach and ricotta ravioli for your dish - why did you choose that recipe?

Gip: Because it's the classic one. They're the kind of things that my mum used to do.

How do you feel about cooking for Gordon Ramsay?

Gip: Humble. Fantastic. And, again, I'm not always in the kitchen. I go in, they kick me out and that's testament to the guys because I'm bolshy and I want things a certain way. They've got it covered, because we've got 10 chefs. But, being in there, lots of love for Gordon. And after he came in, saw all the chefs and he said the food was great, it was heartfelt and we were just over the moon. That's what you want to hear from your peers - your serious peers. Gordon Ramsay earned three Michelin stars before he started doing all this stuff that he's doing - you can’t take away from the fact that the guy is a beast when it comes to cooking.

Are you nervous about the challenge?

Gip: A little bit nervous of being in a strange kitchen. I mean, immediately, everything is different so there's that. On the other hand, we're only cooking a bit of grub for some people! And that's what we do.

If you were to win, what would it mean to you?

Chris: It would be a testimony, not just to us who are doing it today, but to everyone else that works at Salvo's because, without them, we wouldn't have even got here in the first place. But, if we did win today, it would just be such a strange feeling; I think, at first, because we're in a foreign place, Ramsay's there…

Gip: Ramsay is really well respected amongst chefs who are passionate, because we see the kind of guy he is, so the guys in the kitchen are really over the moon. For me, personally, I have been there a long, long time. We've always considered ourselves as a neighbourhood restaurant so, if we were to win, it would be amazing.

My dad would be proud to see what we've done. It's for my dad as well.

Facts about the Salvo's team

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