Florios will be opening their doors to the public
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00:00 I'm Alex. I'm Max. I'm Izzy. We are in Old Portsmouth. We just moved from Cocknall to
00:15 Old Portsmouth, the high street. We are in a historical building which used to be the
00:21 Duke of Buckingham's pub. It's the first authentic pizza in Portsmouth, at least in our view.
00:28 We've got a limited menu, but that's because we focus on quality and it's basically a no-frills
00:33 attached kind of attempt at dining. So rather than cheap gimmicks, we're focusing on quality
00:42 and a core menu which people can enjoy time and time again, hopefully for very good value
00:47 as well. Yeah, and I think the difference from the last place to here is now we've got
00:52 tables, you can actually sit down and it's more of a sit-down dining experience and we're
00:58 going to do more specials, so different dishes every week, desserts, you can have a bottle
01:03 of wine, drinks. We've got gelato. Yeah, we've got a bunch of gelato. So there's a bit more
01:08 now. Yeah, and another thing that makes us a little bit unique is that we've got the
01:13 dining area which will be bookable at certain times and days and then the bar area where
01:17 we are now which will be walk-ins only. It'll be very casual. You can come in and maybe
01:21 have a coffee or a pizza or an ice cream or one of the other many things that we do. So
01:26 we kind of separate the business out into a few different things, a bit more casual
01:30 than most other places I would say. Yeah, and in fact, Tuesday and Wednesday we don't
01:35 take any bookings, it's more casual. You can just turn up for a coffee, a panino. Yes,
01:41 and then Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday you can book a table and still turn up. Yeah,
01:49 and we're going to do the interesting thing, the difference from the past is that we're
01:53 introducing specials. So every week different specials. I've already mentioned we've got
02:00 gelato and also if you have a coffee there will be other stuff that we make like tiramisu
02:05 or cakes that you can enjoy with your coffee. Our homemade cannoli as well. And also a novelty,
02:11 some of the wines on display in the shop you'll be able to purchase it and pay the corkage
02:17 and drink it. Only selected top quality wines if you like. Excellent, so how excited are
02:25 you about opening up this Tuesday? What's going through your mind? I'm nervous as well
02:29 but I'm nervous. But we can't wait. We had so many people knocking on the door and asking
02:35 us about the new business. And lots of people from this area, all the poor people, saying
02:41 thank God we needed something like this, not another pub. They want to see, I don't know,
02:45 something different. I think not even in our Portsmouth, the whole of Portsmouth really,
02:50 there's never been anything like this before because I've never seen a delicatessen, you
02:54 know we're doing coffees, gelatos, a pizzeria and a shop all in one. It's more what you
02:59 see in London and I think that's why. In Italy this is fashionable now. The first one is
03:04 something in Bologna called Italy. It's exactly like that, you do shopping, you eat and enjoy.
03:10 But the key focus really is just on freshness. Yes, quality. And having a small menu but
03:17 you know hopefully everything is top standards. Yeah, we come from a family of foodies. My
03:23 dad had a restaurant, he opened in 1969. So we know what it takes, ingredients, put them
03:33 together, they have to be fresh and they have to be quality. We're not cutting corners here.
03:39 So another question is, why Portsmouth? Ah, Portsmouth because I moved to Portsmouth 30
03:46 years ago and also I always thought, I was a wholesaler before going to a retailer, I
03:53 was applying to a lot of places, restaurants, pubs, hotels and I always thought that's not
03:58 the place I personally, a foodie, would go and eat. I was doing something bad, wrong,
04:05 cutting corners or using cheap ingredients. So my kids are obviously foodies as well.
04:11 This is our passion. They believe that Portsmouth needs something like this. For us, we joke
04:17 but it's true, this will be our place, you know, where our family come, where we eat
04:22 because we know, you know, we want to make it top quality. When people ask me in the
04:26 other shop, where would you recommend to go in Italy, I would say, come to my house. It
04:31 was a joke but I meant it. That's what we want to do here. Everything that we've always
04:35 had in our Nonna's house or in Italy or at home, we want to let people in Portsmouth try
04:42 that food. We cook dishes and we go, if people could try this and that's what we want to
04:46 do here. Our recipes are my mum's recipe or my dad's recipe or recipes that we made. Had
04:52 in our family. We changed a bit because of, you know, the quality. Also, we love Portsmouth.
04:59 We think it deserves this and it enhances the city, you know. We're Pompey born and
05:03 bred near my sister. We support the team. We love Portsmouth Football Club. It's in
05:08 our hearts. We want to make Pompey happy and hopefully we can do that and contribute to
05:13 what is already a booming and growing food scene here in the city, which we love.
05:18 And finally, I understand that you've got a unique oven?
05:21 Pizza oven, yes. That oven is electric and has been, we purchased it from an Italian
05:32 celebrity chef, Marco Pier White. That oven was in Leicester Square in his restaurant
05:38 on the top floor. So we purchased it and brought it back here. And it's the only electric oven
05:44 that has been certified in Italy, Naples, to be able to cook a Neapolitan style pizza
05:51 apart from wood. So it's really quality.
05:58 It's a showstopper. When you walk in, it's wow.
06:00 Yeah, not only that, it cooks pizza.
06:03 Amazingly. We've already done some tests and it's fantastic.
06:07 So that's the story.
06:09 Yeah.
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