North restaurants included in top 100 list
Jul 3 2008 by Peter McCusker, The Journal
THREE Newcastle restaurant groups – Gusto UK, The Café 21 Group and the Black Door Group – are today named among the best in the UK in the 2008 Restaurant One Hundred list, compiled by Restaurant magazine.
Gusto UK, which was founded by the De Giorgi family, owns Secco and Secco Ristorante Salentino on Pilgrim Street and has been in operation for 36 years.
Café 21’s name comes from the restaurant’s original address, 21 Queen Street, where Terry Laybourne opened his first restaurant in 1988, called 21 Queen Street.
Twelve years later, after winning a Michelin star, the restaurant was refurbished and renamed Café 21 and in 2007 it moved along the Quayside to Trinity Gardens.
Other restaurants in the chain include; Bistro 21, Durham, the Jesmond Dene House Hotel, Café 21 Fenwicks and Caffe Vivo on the Quayside.
The Black Door Group owns the Brasserie Black Door at the Biscuit Factory and its new venture, the Black Door Bar and Dining Rooms, at Bridge Street, Morpeth, opens on July 20
Cristina De Giorgi, Gusto director, said: “This is an honour for Gusto UK. We strive to offer the North East an outstanding restaurant group and work hard to compete with the industries top restaurant groups the majority of which are based in London.
“As a family business, I am proud that we have achieved such an acclamation and look forward to being mentioned on the list next year.”
