A NEW cocktail bar and restaurant will bring the flavours of southern Italy to Southend.

Stefano Messina, 34, and wife Federica Nicche, 33, will be opening the upmarket Route 5 restaurant and cocktail bar in Sutton Road next month.

They have spent three years working in London and have a wealth of experience from their family businesses in their native Italy.

The restaurant, serving traditional cuisine from the regions of Sicily and Abruzzo, will be the latest in a string of fine dining restaurants opening in Southend, such as Bourgee in Eastern Esplanade, Oyster Creek Kitchen in Western Esplanade, Mangetout’s expanding in Tylers Avenue, and the eagerly awaited reopening of the Royal Hotel later this year.

Mr Messina said: “In Italy, my wife worked in a restaurant and hotel in Abruzzo and I worked in Sicily with fast food, in a bar and a restaurant, which were family businesses.

“We’ve lived in London for three years and wanted to do something for ourselves, bringing something fresher than the other kind of food you might find in the area.

“I also worked as a barman, which is why we wanted to open the restaurant as a cocktail bar, too. I’ll be preparing these and we’ll even have Mojito nights on Thursdays selling them for £4.50 each.”

The menu, serving pasta, meat and seafood dishes, will feature daily specials as well as desserts such as homemade torta all’arancia – a sponge cake filled with orange cream – and baba, a sponge cake soaked in liqueur.

The building formerly housed the Chinese Lu Restaurant, before being taken over by the couple. They are currently refurbishing the building and are hoping to open before Christmas.

A licensing application is currently awaiting approval from the council which would allow alcohol to be served between midday and 11pm Tuesdays to Sundays, extended to 2am the following day on New Year’s Eve, as well as recorded music in the same period.

Representations to the council must be received by December 16.

For more information on the restaurant, visit route5.co.uk