Newcastle chef announces opening of second restaurant in ‘exciting new venture’

The success of a Tyneside restaurant has led to the team behind it acquiring a second site for a brand new venture.

Lovage opened at St George’s Terrace, Jesmond less than a year ago, with its authentic Mediterranean style food becoming an instant hit with both diners and critics, even getting a mention by Michelin within months of launching.

Headed up by chef Kleo Tabaku and front of house manager, Lisa Hide, the pair joined forces with hospitality entrepreneur, Stuart Young of Northern Bar Management to create a restaurant which was inspired by Kleo’s upbringing.

Now the partners are adding another string to their culinary bow, with Osters which is scheduled to open at Gosforth High Street in mid November. The new restaurant, in what was formerly Stock Gosforth, will focus mainly on seafood and fish, as well as catering for both meat eaters and vegetarians.

Kleo will be creating the new menu but will still remain as head chef at Lovage, with Albi Tabaku, a long-standing colleague who has worked with him for a number of years heading up the kitchen at Osters.

Kleo commented: “This is a very exciting new venture for us and the opportunity to showcase new dishes but at the same level and with the same attention to detail that we have at Lovage. It will still reflect my style of food and hopefully will have the same amazing reception that we have had at Lovage.”

Stuart Young of Northern Bar Management is equally as excited about the new opening. He added: “We’ve been overwhelmed by the response to Lovage and the style of food we offer there.

“The opportunity came up to take over this prime site in the heart of Gosforth and we knew it was the perfect place for us to create a new restaurant with a different menu, but still reflecting Kleo’s style of food.

“I am delighted at being able to continue the successful partnership with Kleo and Lisa and believe this will be a really strong addition to that relationship.”

Work is now underway on revamping the restaurant, which will have a cool, Scandinavian style feel to the décor.

By Matthew Neville – Senior Correspondent, Bdaily

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