Italian Catering in South West

Italian food even better than Mamma used to make! Sicilian Donkey Pasta & Grill provide authentic Sicilian & Italian street food using locally-sourced high-welfare and high-quality Somerset produce. Here they also share some handy tips on what to look for when booking a mobile caterer for your event.

What do you need to know from an organiser in order to provide a comprehensive quote?

For the most accurate quote, we would always recommend that you book in a call with Claire who works with clients to ensure they get the menu they want, at the right price. We always need to know the date (we want to be sure we're not already booked), a ballpark idea of the number of guests, any details about the venue, the type of event and whether there is power available (this helps determine the foods we can offer). The chef is Umberto who is from Sicily and loves introducing people to his fresh, artisan pasta and sauces, Sicilian street food and even Italian spiedini (meat or veg skewers) cooked on the barbecue and served with salads and home-baked breads including Focaccia and sourdough.

What advice would you give to a customer looking to hire a provider in your area of work?

Ask your provider about the food that they sell and where they source it. We believe in using West Country produce to create our mouth-watering Italian food together with the authentic Italian ingredients that give the true flavour of Italy. Ask them what cooking experience they have (we have a chef with over 20 years cooking in professional restaurant kitchens) and their hygiene rating (ours is a healthy 5*). Finally, make sure that they enjoy what they do - we make our food with love and it shows in the great taste.

Please tell us a little bit about how and why you started the business.

Sicilian Donkey is named after the beautiful Mediterranean donkeys you see in Spain, Greece and Italy. We started the business to highlight the talents of our Sicilian-born chef Umberto and to introduce the British people to Sicilian and Southern Italian cuisine. We started working with an internet start-up in London in 2012 and now we have been in business for 7 years.

Please tell us about a booking you've had through Add to Event, how did it go? Would you recommend us to others?

We've done a lot of bookings through Add To Event via our sister company. We offer Private Chef services and buffets through this company but wanted the chance to do more events with larger numbers of people. We can do pasta, salads, spiedini, desserts and our award-winning arancini from a gazebo set-up. Sicilian street food is something you won't forget once you've tried it.