AN Ealing home cook who has ran her own catering business since 2006 has now opened her first shop.

Marie-Clare Alphonso, who lives in Northfields, is the woman behind Marie-Clare Cooks, which was launched in 2016 as a home cooked food delivery business.

Nearly five years later, she has managed to open her own store, located at 47 Boston Road in Hanwell, where people can take away home cooked food.

Alphonso's unique selling point is the fact she mixes different cuisines and doesn't just stick to one or two like most.

She told Nub News: "Other shops don't mix different cuisines, but I do and people have always enjoyed my food, so I'm confident in what I do."

She believes her multicultural background of French, Spanish, Indian, Irish and Portuguese descent has directly affected her cooking, which is inspired from North African, Mediterranean and East Asian cuisines, to create menus that are filled with flavours.

Since the grand opening on December 27, Marie-Clare Cooks shop has been very busy.

Alphonso said: "It's been great, people are very interested to check out the new shop and I've got people from different areas travelling a fair bit to come here and try my food.

"Hanwell needs something like this, we need more unique shops that at the same time appeal to everyone, as we're in such a diverse area.

"The best thing about Marie-Clare Cooks is that because of our worldwide cuisine, families with different preferences can all buy their food here, a family of four can have dishes from four completely different cuisines."

Although the coronavirus pandemic has negatively affected most businesses worldwide, Alphonso is very pleased with how things are going despite the current economic climate.

She added: "Obviously I'm lucky that I was allowed to open, people still want to treat themselves and eat something special and we're different from fast food takeaways because we offer home cooked food, it's all made fresh to order.

"Marie-Clare Cooks for me is food that means home, for people that want home cooked food without the hassle of making it themselves."

Deliveries are also available locally, which begs the question as to how she manages all of this considering she hasn't hired any members of staff yet.

"My family have been fantastic," she said.

"My mum helps a lot with the washing and with the paper work, while my brother helped design the inside of the shop."

The cook also collaborates with a coffee shop in Isleworth called Vanilla Moon, to which she supplies all sorts of foods.

Alphonso wants to continue growing her business and is open to collaborating with other businesses too.

But for now, she's just happy she took 'the leap of faith' and opened her shop, which was the next step up in helping her expand.