Pastries, cakes, filled focaccia, antipasti and Sunday lunches are on the menu
New Italian cafe and bistro Mo’ Mo’ in Long Eaton
A tiny corner of Italy is coming to Long Eaton, with well-priced coffee, pastries, pasta and Sunday lunches.
A former charity shop, which raised money for Treetops Hospice, has been transformed into a cosy 12-seater cafe and bistro, called Mò Mò.
Owner Leonardo Giaschi said: “In Italian it can mean two things, ‘right now’, or an exclamation, when you say ‘wow, this is beautiful’. I wanted something from my dialect and also something that was easy to say.”
Saturday, April 25, is set to be the opening day. By day Mò Mò will be home to Italian pastries, cakes and coffee with reasonably priced drinks — an espresso for £1.80, Americano £2.20 and latte £2.50.
Thursday evenings will be aperitivo time, an Italian ritual with snacks and drinks, such as Aperol, seen as a time to unwind and catch up with friends.
Antipasti from Leonardo’s former home Puglia, in the heel of Italy, will be served, along with stuffed focaccia, pizza and panzerrotti (a smaller version of calzone), brushette and regional cheeses and meats.
Bougainvillea bushes, cacti and neon-lit features inside Mò Mò
Mò Mò will turn into a bistro on Friday and Saturday evenings when the lights will dip to make it more atmospheric. Classic starters, pasta, fish and meat, and desserts will be on the menu.
Leonardo, who was a graphic designer in Puglia, said: “This is a pure Italian, no contamination, it’s not going to be pizza and pineapple, although nothing wrong with that. It’s not going to be a carbonara with cream, again nothing wrong.
“However, I can only guarantee tastes I know that came from my mum and grandmother.”
Sundays will be the day for a ‘proper Italian Sunday lunch’ with antipasti and traditional favourites such as lasagne, pasta al forno, parmigiana di melanzane and desserts.
Leonardo is taking on a chef for the savoury dishes. while he is in charge of the desserts as the new business is an extension of his side hustle Puglia Bites, making sweet treats such as cannoli and tiramisu from home.
“It was growing so quick and so many people were coming to collect, too many, so I told myself let’s open a little place where I can have a kitchen and if there’s space have a few tables,” he said.
Sundays will have a larger assortment of Puglia Bites since that’s the day Italians stock up on desserts if they’re invited to a friend’s home for lunch.
The plates at Mò Mò in Long Eaton
He was unsure whether the property would be suitable when he first saw it. He said: “It was a very small, full of clothes I didn’t think it was the right place. I came back when it was empty and saw some potential.”
While Long Eaton doesn’t have the whitewashed buildings, cobbled streets and pristine sands that meet the clear blue of the Adriatic sea, Mò Mò will transport customers to the sunny climes of la dolce vita with the pretty pink bougainvillea bushes, cacti and neon-lit features on the turquoise walls.
Located in Derby Road, there’s a row of bus stops right outside so it will be very handy for passengers to grab a takeaway coffee or an Italian croissant.
Arriving in the UK with a dream but no job ten years ago, Leonardo started working at Amores, an Italian restaurant in Beeston, first as a waiter and then a bartender.
For a time he had two jobs, a graphic designer by day, and then in Amores in the evenings, working long days from 7am to 11pm. “I am a worker,” he said.
Dining and Cooking