When he first opened in Heath Street in the early 60s, the restaurateur started serving dishes from his native Italy.
He was subletting a venue called the Oasis, but was upset to see his customers ordering chips with their spaghetti.
But having worked as a waiter and sommelier at a French restaurant in Marylebone Lane, he realised there was no French restaurant in Hampstead.
La Gaffe was born – serving Gallic soups, pate, and beef dishes to the rich and famous.
Super couple Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, comics Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, and Lawrence of Arabia actor Peter O’Toole were among his clientele.
“La Gaffe means mistake, but 60 years later we are still here!” says Bernardo – who turned 90 last week.
He adds: “Hampstead was very bohemian back then, full of artists, writers and actors.
“I was young and ambitious and I worked such long hours that I never watched television so I didn’t know what people looked like. Now I see old films and say ‘they were in the restaurant!'”
Over the years customers like war correspondent Martin Bell, Peter O’Toole, and David Soul of Starsky and Hutch fame became friends.
And Bernardo says that when he needed a bank loan to buy the freehold, he was helped by a woman who was a fan of their ‘pate maison’.
“It was a mother and daughter and she was related to the Queen Mother,” says Bernardo.
“The lady wrote a letter to the bank, and the manager rang to say ‘you have your loan!”
Bernardo is not just a restaurateur – he’s also a writer of poems, books and plays which were staged at Hampstead’s former New End Theatre.
“The dream of my life was to be a writer but I needed to earn a living,” says the father-of-three.
“I have 3,000 books at home I am always reading, and I still write – in Italian, my latest poem is about modernity and losing the habit of reading and writing.”
La Gaffe closed during Covid and afterwards Bernardo couldn’t find chefs and waiters prepared to work evenings and weekends.
“I had to close the restaurant during Covid and then we couldn’t find the staff – the turnover didn’t justify staying open.”
Now, La Gaffe is a hotel serving breakfasts, but the Golders Green resident has his views on what has changed in Hampstead village.
“It’s become very slick now, and the parking is impossible, there are no spaces. People say ‘I would like to come to your hotel but I can’t find anywhere to park.'”
The venue did host his 90th birthday bash – attended by Martin Bell who he says he’s known “all his life”.
“They gave me a good party,” he admits, adding he’s happily retired to Golders Green.
“I don’t miss Italy. Italy gave me birth, but England gave me life.”
