E Pellicci is famous for its fried breakfasts. The British-Italian cafe in Bethnal Green has been serving them since 1900, even if they’ve changed a little since then. It’s the breakfasts that get most of the airtime — the combination of sausages, bacon, eggs, beans and toast (or fried bread) is an easy pin-up.
Regulars and loyal customers are more likely to go for lunch. Fewer tourists then and hardly anyone wants or needs a daily fry up. Come lunchtime, people like Elizabeth come in, the South African woman who escaped apartheid, and Mick, the cantankerous Spurs fan who eats fairly light.
It’s then that the more Italian side of things takes precedence: spaghetti bolognese, lasagne and penne with pesto — still made to the original Pellicci family recipe and possibly the best pesto in the world. Although there are also pies, liver and bacon and ham, egg and chips. The latter is so big it arrives on one of those oval serving plates. Nothing costs more than £15.
But there’s one menu item less known but deserving of far greater acclaim, a toasted ciabatta sandwich called the “Big Bang”. It’s on some of the physical menus, but not all, and it’s not online. You find it tucked away at the bottom of page two — easily missed.
It’s quite a mad creation and a tremendous way to fill up for £14. Chicken Milanese is sliced into smaller pieces and covered in mozzarella, then grilled. Next, the whole thing is covered in a traditional British-Italian ragu, the same as used for the spaghetti bolognese.
The chicken Milanese is crispy, with tender meat, and the melted cheese is a perfect go-between with the soft interior of the ciabatta. Then the ragu, full of flavour, richness and depth, is the sauce. Just the same as any dish at E Pellicci, the whole thing is generous, so some of the ragu spills out onto the plate. It’s as if you’re not in east London, but somewhere on the east coast of America. The Big Bang might actually be London’s version of a roast beef sandwich from Brennan and Carr in New York, which is served au jus on a soft roll just as it has been since the 1930s. E Pellicci’s owners Nev or Anna might even bring you a pot of pesto for dipping, though that’s only really needed if you have bread leftover or are sharing a bowl of chips.
I love that E Pellicci has stuck with ciabatta. Focaccia has taken hold in more recent years but I often think focaccia is too oily to be used for most sandwiches. The bread works beautifully with cured meats, mortadella especially, because that’s all you need, but when you start involving sauces and cheese then ciabatta is the more proficient vehicle. The Big Bang needs a drier, studier bread. A bread made purely to be used for sandwiches. It was invented by an enterprising baker from the north of Italy in the 1980s to compete with French baguettes, which then had the monopoly on much of Europe’s lunchtime sandwich market. Let’s not talk about sourdough.
Anyway, E Pellicci is famous for its fry-ups and simple pastas but this chicken, mozzarella and ragu sandwich needs more attention. In a city obsessed with gourmet numbers — often rightly — this is an old school relic of British-Italian dining. It must be celebrated, protected. Most of all, it should be enjoyed.
332 Bethnal Green Road, E2 0AG, epellicci.co.uk
