A FAMILY of Geordie-Italian entrepreneurs are grabbing a pizza the action following a major investment in one of their Newcastle restaurants.

Restaurateurs Aldo, Joseph and Cristina De Giorgi have invested £100,000 in the installation of a new open kitchen at Pasqualino’s Bar Pizzeria on Market Street to celebrate its first anniversary.

They have introduced a woodstone oven to the new Pasqualino’s kitchen which weighs four tonnes and reaches a temperature of 900 degrees fahrenheit. This high temperature allows the intense blast cooking that locks in aroma and moisture.

A second addition to the kitchen is the Spanish Josper, a traditional charcoal grill, so that grilled meat and fish dishes can be cooked on aromatic wood to give a rustic, smoky taste that cannot be achieved using gas or electric ovens.

The De Giorgi siblings are well-known in the Newcastle dining scene after creating some of the city’s most popular bars and restaurants including Paradiso, Popolo, Intermezzo, Alvinos, Secco, Don Vito’s and 9Bar Coffee.

Cristina De Giorgi said: “As Pasqualino’s is now a year old, we wanted to celebrate its success by investing in new facilities to further cement its status as a top quality city centre eaterie offering an authentic taste of Southern Italy.

“Our new open kitchen provides us with the very best culinary tools in order to serve Newcastle’s finest sourdough Neapolitan pizzas and fantastic grilled meat, fish and vegetarian dishes.

“We’re also stepping up the choice in our bar area by extending our hugely popular range of cocktails, and adding to our impressive list of local and continental craft beers.”

The interior of the restaurant, designed by Joseph De Giorgi, features deep buttoned leather booths surrounded by one of the largest bespoke artworks in any Newcastle interior – their ceiling frieze.