Giuseppe Prestigiacomo, the Sicilian chef behind Peppe’s Restaurant at the Cardinal, on Tudor Drive in Kingston, has received Papal recognition from Pope Francis for his exceptional work during lockdown. This adds to a list of official appreciations for Peppe and his family, who have also been recognised by the Mayor of Kingston and the Mayor of Palermo, the capital city of Sicily.

 

With his doors closed to customers, Peppe spent all three lockdowns providing pizza and pasta dishes for free to NHS staff, while also running a takeaway service from his restaurant. He encouraged customers to take part in the initiative by matching every £5 donated with another meal. He and his young daughters also prepared a Christmas Feast to share with the local community, ensuring particularly the homeless and those isolating had a delicious Christmas feast.

 

Citing setting a good example for his daughters as the motivation behind his charitable work, Peppe insisted the girls use their pocket money to donate 120 mini panettones to his Christmas endeavour, for which he also provided 80 chickens.

 

Peppe continues to support the NHS now, despite having reopened to customers, delivering 25 pizzas every week to the New Malden vaccination centre, to say thank you to the volunteers and NHS staff running it.

 

Speaking of his achievement, Peppe said: “For me, it’s about making sure my daughters grow up understanding that what might be a small effort for us, can make a huge difference in the life of someone else. We are very lucky, we had food on our table and a roof over our head and we have each other, others are not so lucky, and it is important that we share what we have with them.

 

“I am very grateful for everyone who has been so supportive of the work we have been doing and I am very touched by the recognition we have received.”

 

Peppe’s Restaurant is renowned in Kingston for preparing delicious traditional Sicilian food, which he has been doing since he moved to the UK in 2001. Peppe’s food centres around his philosophy of healthy, natural, high digestible pizza dough and only using the finest, locally sourced ingredients in his dishes.

 

Peppe’s Restaurant, The Cardinal, 174 Tudor Drive, Kingston Upon Thames, KT2 5QG

 

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