23/07/2019
“Let’s dance! We are stronger than the wind!”
Back in April I was planning of turning Macaroni Liberation Front fully vegan.
As you know this has been on my mind since months for a very simple reason, I believe a diet with less meat, dairy products and less fish is more sustainable in a world with intensive production. As I am not a fully vegan myself I think that the more opportunities you have to eat amazing and healthy vegan food, the easiest to either do the full switch or just trying to eat less and less animal products.
So I looked into this option and simply it wouldn’t had worked from a financial point of view. We have just done the change from Italian bakery to a modern Italian restaurant concept. After six months it was nearly at break even.
People needs time to adapt to your changes so another switch would have meant too much pressure on the company.
So one sunny afternoon last May I was in Clapton strolling with a sleepy Zelda and I decided to stop by one of my fav vegan cafe, Lele's and the owner - and friend - Valentina was there.
I popped in and said ciao, can we talk? I did not have a plan yet but I had a positive feeling. I did not need to say anything else, she came out of the kitchen told the girls to not disturb her and sat with me in the sun.
And then we started talking about the common challenges we face in this industry, the long hours standing, the hard work we do everyday....we talked for hours and we still didn’t have a plan.
Not yet.
At some point we thought that we could actually join forces and making something beautiful happening together. We then worked on a plan but the timing wasn’t right, it was very hard to get a an investment in such a little time - especially in summer.
But we didn’t give up. We sat again, this time Davide Grigolato joined us too. And then some magic happened, we finally had a plan. It is a crazy plan with lots of uncertainties but it’s a plan full of passion and love.
So, here it goes.... we have an exciting announcement to make!
Lele’s is taking over our location in Dalston with a residency starting from early August. We will incorporate part of our current vegan menu - you already love 🙂 with some of Leles’s staples. Valentina and Davide are already in the kitchen working really hard on a banging menu. Expect brilliant salads, small bites, special and cakes - not forgetting to mention excellent coffee - during the day and curries, pasta dishes and plates to share during the evening.
We’ll open in two weeks time date TBC.
To all macaroni lovers: come show us your love and support, last chance to order our lovely dishes before we change our menu. It will be lovely to see you and chat to you about our future plans. Last day of serving our menu will be Sunday the 4th of August.
To all friends and customers we will held a farewell party on Friday the 2nd of August. Make sure you come!
WE COULD NOT MAKE ANYTHING ABOUT THE WIND, BUT WE CAN ALWAYS DANCE
🎥 Alessandro Mariscalco
