Eastbourne man ‘excited’ about opening new two Italian restaurants

An Eastbourne restaurateur is bucking the trend of venues suffering during the pandemic as he is ready to open two new eateries in town next month.

Nando Dinapoli is launching two Tony Piccante Italian restaurants – one in Langney Shopping Centre and one in Grove Road at the former site of Mamma Mi, which he also owned.

Nando moved to Eastbourne 25 years ago from Naples.

Speaking ahead of the opening, Nando said, “We are slowly getting there. We’re very lucky to be opening two restaurants and I’m very excited – the adrenaline is going up ahead of May 17.”

Nando said he decided to move on from Mamma Mi because he wanted to grow and expand.

He said, “We were more like an Italian cafe before and I felt it was the time to change.

“We’ll be expanding from just Italian, with international food and a wine bar too. We’ll take the best bits of Mamma Mi and move forward. ”

Davide Fragiello, Nando’s business partner and pizza chef who moved from Naples five years ago, said, “We want to cook modern food and work with international ingredients – it’s time to change in Eastbourne.”

Nando hopes to eventually open a restaurant on Hastings, and Davide has his eye on Tunbridge Wells.

Nando said, “This is like an exam for us, if we can do well with these two we can go from there.

Nando said he felt very lucky to have had government financial support through the last year of Covid.

He said, “They haven’t received a penny from the government in Italy, lots of places have closed. I can’t complain – I feel very lucky.”

Both sites will open on May 17, in line with the government’s road map out of lockdown which will then allow indoor hospitality to resume.

Nando said, “We will bring something new to Eastbourne, taking the best bits from a chain which is organisation and still having the personality of a smaller business. We’ve got the chance to build something, it’s exciting.”

For more information, go to the Tony Piccante Facebook page.

Read this: New restaurant at Langney Shopping Centre