“Unfortunately some players from Lazio too,” says Mozzetti. Other guests include Georgia Meloni, the Italian prime minister went before her rise to power. In 2024 Ed Gamble, the British comedian best known for co-creating the hit food podcast Off Menu, visited with his wife. He added gold leaf to his fettucini Alfredo (truffle and caviar are available too, embellishments allowed by Mozzetti).
Is the clientele important? “It is the story, and it’s important to be busy,” Mozzetti explains. “But local people come to eat too, it’s not just tourists.”
More vital than anything, it seems, are the ingredients and the way the pasta is folded and prepared. The butter comes from Caseificio Cavola, a northern producer in the mountains near Modena; parmesan is aged 24 months, nutty and full of flavour. These are amalgamated theatrically, spectacularly.
“The fettuccine is very thin, it is only boiled quickly, it doesn’t need long, in very salty water,” says Mozzetti. “The butter melts into the pasta and the parmesan is added at the table before it is mixed. It’s a show. You must be a “master montecare” to do it.”
What’s next for Mozzetti in his quest to educate? Given he already sells hundreds of thousands of plates of fettuccine Alfredo each year, buying 800 wheels of parmesan and endless blocks of butter to do so, is there any need to expand? He’s coy but doesn’t disavow the notion of more restaurants.
“I do want to grow, to tell the story,” he says. “We’re over 100 years old, we have a lot of distinguished guests, and maybe there could be the opportunity to expand. But not restaurants – collaborations. To show more people the dish.
“There’s a lot of technology now so that helps spread the word. The only problem is when the influencers come in with their lights to take photos. They take such a long time that the pasta is ruined by the time they eat it – you must eat pasta straight away.”
Finishing our coffee, I’m conscious we’re in Gloria, one of the Big Mamma group’s most popular destinations and one of London’s most Instagrammable restaurants, where pasta mafaldine is also served theatrically at the table from a wheel of pecorino. But it makes for the ideal location for Mozzetti to serve true fettuccine Alfredo, if only for one night, to pass it on to a new generation.
“It’s not just about fettuccine,” says Mozzetti. “It’s about pasta, about butter and about parmesan. We want to spread the word around the world. They [producers] are behind me – they support me.
“On one hand, we are lucky because chefs continue to make “Alfredo” famous. Lots of people cook it. But we must try to help them not make it horrible – no shrimps, no mushrooms, no cream or chicken. Ninety-nine per cent of people think that alfredo is with chicken. That’s why I travel.”
Dining and Cooking