Aldo Zilli

Aldo serves up an award-winning dining experience on his Surrey estate

Celebrity chef Aldo Zilli, who has won more awards for his wonderful Italian cooking than we have had hot dinners, is never one to stand still.

When the country went into lockdown and everything shuddered to a halt due to the COVID epidemic, to stay ahead of the game he began offering a delivery and takeaway service from his estate in Surrey. The idea was cooked up with his teenage kids Rocco and Twiggy and the business became an overnight success. All the authentic Italian food is made in his magnificent kitchen and to cope with the unprecedented demand he even had to employ more drivers and chefs as orders flooded in. Casa Zilli still offers a delivery service but has now morphed into a unique dining experience – thanks to his actress wife Nikki – who came up with the idea of offering clients the opportunity to dine in luxury heated Pods in their estate grounds near Redhill. The concept has now  become so popular he is considering rolling it out to hotels nationwide.

Aldo, who has just been appointed brand ambassador for Mis Amigos, a popular British flavoured Tequila, said: “I feel like I’ve got a little gem in the middle of nowhere and people are willing to travel to see me.”

“We only operate on Fridays and Saturdays so the demand is very high as people love the Zilli experience. I do all the cooking for the weekend, so people know they are going to book and see me. What we do here is, it’s not a restaurant, it’s an experience, It is for people to come and enjoy and hang out like in the old  Soho days. In the 1980s, Soho was like a village and everyone knew each other.  People had breakfast, lunch, and dinner with me. I had 5 restaurants and I could walk to all of them, It was a crazy idea but each individual restaurant had different foods. Everyone felt very safe coming into my restaurants and people like Freddie Mercury, George Michael,the McCartneys, Kate Moss, Prince Edward, and Andrew Lloyd Webber were all regulars. We often had private parties that went on all night and what went on at Zilli’s stayed at Zilli’s! There was no one taking pictures on iPhones and posting on social media every five minutes!” At Casa Zilli, the menu has something for everyone. It changes seasonally, offering delights from a Taste of Italy Experience at £125 per person or from the Regional Menu. Home-cooked dishes include lobster ravioli in shellfish bisque, ravioli wild boar ravioli, Scottish fillet steak, slow-cooked lamb shank to a full range of vegan and dairy-free dishes, plus a children’s menu. Celebrities like close friend and Bond actress Dame Judi Dench, who lives nearby, is a regular diner.

To complete the experience at Casa Zilli, Aldo also offers cookery master classes at £300 per person for those who wish to spend the day cooking alongside him. And guests fly in from all over the world, landing by helicopter on the grounds. It’s a real family affair and Nikki has also created the Casa Zilli homeware range with a collection of luxury scented candles and room diffusers that are inspired by the aromas and scents in the herb garden.

Aldo is always on the go and he’s written 10 books, including two autobiographies and currently has a column in the Daily Express, and has appeared in a host of television and radio programmes. He keeps fit by going to the gym for a cycle and working out every day and has been voted Best Restaurant in Surrey in 2022 and 2023. He also won the Best Chef Award in the Best Restaurant Awards in 2022 and a national award for Best Restaurant in 2023. Aldo is always keen to experiment and after becoming the new face of the Tequila brand Mis Amigos, he has started using tequila in his cooking and desserts with amazing results.

He revealed:” I’ve recently been made brand ambassador for Mis Amigos Tequila and we have that on our drinks list, also at the end of the meal people get to try our coffee tequila on ice when they come. One of my friends recommended I try this brand and I was blown away by the taste so much  I decided to use them in my cooking. I make a tiramisu with it and with the strawberry tequila one I make a strawberry pannacotta. We serve it with fresh strawberries and fresh cream and it’s cooked inside the cream. It’s been a great success to be honest.

“I got my recipes straight away and I also add their 88 Vodka when I’m doing pasta with salmon. It’s an old recipe but it’s come back on the scene and it’s very popular.”

 Behind the scenes Aldo does a huge amount of charity work and is a patron of Counterpoint UK and during lockdown delivered food to hospitals and homeless people in London. He has also helped raise funds for the Red Cross Children’s Hospital in Cape Town, Help a London Child, The Variety Club, and Caudwell Children.

 He tends all of his 18 acres himself, growing a wonderful range of organic vegetables and herbs in the gardens.  He refuses to employ any gardeners, finding the work therapeutic although he has treated himself to two sit-on mowers!  And whenever he gets the opportunity he flies off to Italy to watch his son Rocco, 18, play football.

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