A POPULAR Basingstoke restaurant welcomed its first customers through the doors of its new venue inside Festival Place.

Festival Street Kitchen, which first opened in the town centre in 2016, has relocated from outside to inside the shopping centre after refurbishing two empty units.

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Husband and wife Alex and Danielle Menicou, who own the business, were excited to open the doors to their new venue on Friday, March 29 following a four-month refit of the empty units.

Basingstoke Gazette: The expanded Festival Street Kitchen has opened in Festival PlaceThe expanded restaurant now includes an upstairs space which can be used for private events, a bar, downstairs seating and a soon-to-be open soft play area for children.

Danielle, a mother-of-two, said: “Everything we do is fresh so it’s better to have more preparation space. When we were outside and the weather turned, we couldn’t put food back in a freezer. It was really weather dependent.

“We had lots of loyal customers and have a really good, solid customer base and we also do external catering for events and businesses so our new venue will support that. The upstairs space can be used for events.”

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Festival Street Kitchen has also extended its opening hours and is now open Monday to Thursday 9am to 10pm, Friday and Saturday 9am to 11pm and Sundays 9.30am to 9pm.

Plans are in the pipeline to increase the offerings on the menu, to include bottomless brunch options along with its usual ‘big pan’ special, burgers and Tex Mex.

Basingstoke Gazette: The expanded Festival Street Kitchen has opened in Festival PlaceAll the ingredients used in the dishes are fresh, with many sourced locally including the meat which comes from the nearby Newlyns Farm, in Hook.

The food business is best known, however, for its big pan specials, which customers can see being cooked fresh inside. On the opening day, customers were queuing to try a Tuscan chicken served with rice and freshly baked ciabatta bread.

A flood in the downstairs toilet just 10 minutes before opening failed to stop the team from opening the doors on time, as they rallied to clear it up before the first customers came inside.

“It’s lovely to see Festival Street Kitchen grow,” said Danielle, who hopes the new soft play area will prove popular with parents – something few other town centre locations offer.