MITSHEL IBRAHIM'S FUL MEDAMES

The head chef at Ombra in London shares an Egyptian recipe from his childhood, inspired by his parents

- TONY NAYLOR

Growing up in Milan, Mitshel Ibrahim did everything he could to avoid helping in his parents' restaurant. “They almost used it as a punishment if I was getting bad grades,' he laughs.

The Ibrahims opened Il Piccolo Paradiso in the 1990s, less than a decade after arriving in Italy from Egypt, but nothing about the hard grind of restaurant life appealed to young Mitshel: ‘Dad would open seven days a week and work all imaginable hours.' Mitshel was adamant he would never cook professionally.

But, as he puts it, 'Guess what?' Fast-forward 25 years and Mitshel, now 34 and co-owner of Hackney's Ombra restaurant, is one of London's hottest chefs. Subconsciously,' he says, a love of food was clearly seeded in him at Il Piccolo, and, 'In the end, what I was trying to reject attracted me.' It helped that Mitshel's first part-time job at Ombra a decade ago was such a fun reintroduction to hospitality. Then a bohemian café-bar serving a hip, artsy East London clientele, working there as a student was: 'like hanging out with your mates, then each month you get paid.'

Mitshel would later work in storied restaurants such as The Dairy and Clove Club before returning to Ombra in 2017, where his contemporary, produce-led Italian cooking turned it into a foodie destination.

At home growing up, the family ate a mixture of Italian and Egyptian dishes. "My parents were from Zagazig, a rural province near Cairo. Moving to Italy was that classic immigrant thing of trying to find a better future. They lived in a small flat and worked hard - dad as a cook (I'd say 90% of Milan restaurants have North African staff) and, seven years later, they had their own restaurant.

“That was quite common then. When people emigrate - and I see it in myself a lot - they work extra hard, almost to make a point and provide a reliable future for their kids.