First, what a private chef actually does
A private chef comes to your home, cooks a full meal in your own kitchen and serves it at your table. With La Cummara, that chef is Martina, who grew up in Abruzzo between the Gran Sasso mountains and the Adriatic coast. The recipes are the ones she learned at home in Italy, not versions adapted for a restaurant menu abroad.
Unlike booking a table at a restaurant, you don't go anywhere. There's no taxi home, no fixed sitting time and no next table listening in. You stay in your own dining room with your own guests, and the food comes to you.
Before the evening: how booking works
The process is designed to be simple, with nothing confirmed until you're happy.
- Send a request. Fill in the short form on our homepage with your preferred date, number of guests and the menu you're curious about. If you're not sure which one, just say so.
- We send the full menu. We check availability and come back to you by email with every course and the exact price.
- We go through the details together. Allergies, intolerances, vegan guests, children, timings. Nothing is left to guess on the night.
- You confirm with a deposit. Once you're happy, a 25% deposit secures the date. It's deducted from the total, not added on top, and the balance is due seven days before the dinner.
If you change your mind, you can cancel free of charge within 24 hours of the booking being confirmed. The full details are in our Terms and Cancellation Policy.
What you need at home (less than you think)
You don't need a professional kitchen. A normal working home kitchen is enough: a hob, an oven, a fridge, a sink and some worktop space. If a particular menu needs anything specific, we'll tell you in advance.
You also don't need to do any shopping. Martina buys all the ingredients for your menu and brings them with her, together with the equipment she needs to cook. All you need to do is set the table, or let us know if you'd like a hand with that too.
On the night
Martina arrives at the time we've agreed, unpacks and starts cooking in your kitchen. Your guests can stay in the dining room, or wander in with a glass of wine and watch the pasta being made. Some people love that part most.
Each course is served at the table, in the order it would be served in Italy. When the last plate goes back to the kitchen, we clean up before we leave. You wake up the next morning to a tidy kitchen and, if you're lucky, some leftover tiramisù.
Our Welcome Menu is the easiest way to try us: bruschetta with sausage spread, spaghetti alla carbonara, traditional tiramisù and a glass of limoncello, from £40 per person. No big occasion needed, just a straightforward Italian dinner to see if we're the right fit. It's limited to one booking per household.
What's on the menu
Every La Cummara menu is a journey to one Italian region, with four or five courses built around the classic dishes you may already have tasted on holiday:
- An Evening in Rome: bruschette, carbonara, abbacchio a scottadito and Roman-style artichokes.
- A Walk Through Sicily: caponata, pasta alla Norma, sarde a beccafico and a golden fennel gratin.
- A Sunset Over Naples: fried montanara with burrata, slow-cooked Genovese ragù, sausage and friarielli.
- A Feast in Abruzzo: gratinated mussels, spaghetti alle vongole and a rich brodetto di pesce. This is Martina's home region.
Every regional menu finishes with tiramisù, because some things shouldn't change.
How much does an Italian private chef in Liverpool cost?
Here's what our menus start from, per person:
| Menu | Courses | From |
|---|---|---|
| Welcome Menu | 4 | £40 pp |
| Rome, Sicily or Naples | 5 | £80 pp |
| Abruzzo | 5 | £100 pp |
Wine pairing can be added for £20 per person with the Welcome Menu or £25 per person with a regional menu. A children's menu is £30 per child. The final price depends on the menu, the number of guests and the date, and you'll always see it in full before you confirm anything.
Allergies, vegan guests and children
A vegan version is available alongside any regional menu, and every menu can be adjusted for allergies and intolerances. The important thing is to tell us about every guest when you book, so Martina can plan the shopping and the cooking around them. Children are welcome, and a children's menu can be added for younger guests.
Which areas do we cover?
We cook across Liverpool and the surrounding areas, including South Liverpool neighbourhoods such as Woolton, Allerton, Mossley Hill, Childwall, Calderstones, Gateacre, Aigburth and Sefton Park, as well as West Derby and the Wirral. If you're just outside these areas, send us your postcode and we'll let you know.
Do I need a special occasion?
No. Birthdays and anniversaries are lovely reasons to book, but many of our favourite evenings are just a Friday dinner with friends or a family Sunday. If you've been missing the way food tasted in Italy, that's reason enough.