A BOSS at a new Italian restaurant in Kendal has said he hopes the eatery will ‘put some life back into the town’.

Director Nick Ward said Sapore was focusing on ‘authentic’ cuisine and had moved away from ‘Anglicised’ Italian cooking.

The eatery in Stramongate has occupied the site of the former Little Italy restaurant, which closed in June. Sapore welcomed the public for the first time on Tuesday.

“As an Italian restaurant, it’s got a long history,” said Mr Ward, 51, who has embarked on the venture with business partner Giuseppe Sepe, 32.

“Everybody you speak to in Kendal has a story to tell about either Paulo Giannis [another former name of the restaurant] or Little Italy.

“We are hoping to build on that and put some life back into the town.”

Mr Sepe said: “The aim is just to provide more authentic Italian dishes rather than the Italian dishes that people know in the UK and have been modified to their tastes.

“We sell the classic carbonara, rather than having cream in it and that kind of stuff.”

Mr Sepe stressed, however, that the restaurant team was happy to accommodate specific requests from diners.

Mr Ward and Mr Sepe, who live in Windermere, are already the directors of three other eateries - Urban Food House in Bowness, Hooked in Windermere, and The Estuary in Grange.

Mr Ward said Kendal would offer them a ‘year-round business foundation’.

“We have always wanted to do an Italian, and we wanted to do something in Kendal,” he said.

He acknowledged getting Sapore ready to open in just ten weeks had constituted ‘quite a quick turnaround’, but stressed any redesign work in the building had been limited.

“The actual building itself, there wasn’t a great deal wrong with it,” he said.

“A few tweaks and touches here and there, and then it was just business planning and recruitment.

“We have brightened it up.

“We have introduced some new lighting - it was quite dark before.”

Speaking on Wednesday, Mr Sepe said the restaurant’s opening days had been busy - although it has been operating at a reduced capacity for the first week to iron out kinks and bed staff in.

Bookings at Sapore are preferred while it is accepting fewer people.

“There’s no point in screwing the customer service and the product for the sake of taking £50 extra,” said Mr Sepe.

“It’s about getting everything right, and the customer is happy and will come back.”

Bookings at the restaurant can be made online by heading to www.tinyurl.com/23493mbt.