Claudio Pulze to launch new Italian restaurant at Vinopolis

Veteran London restaurateur Claudio Pulze is to launch a new restaurant at wine-tasting venue Vinopolis next year.

Pulze, whose event catering business Vinum was recently named exclusive caterer to the venue, next to Borough Market, will open the new restaurant, called Del Mercato – meaning 'of the market' in Italian, next February.

The 150-seat venue, which will be located in the railway arches in Stoney Street, will be divided into three distinct areas: Bar Del Mercato, a traditional standing bar serving finger food and bar snacks; Osteria Del Marcato, a pizzeria for light lunches or early dinner; and Restaurante Del Mercato, an authentic Italian restaurant for the evening.

"This kind of restaurant concept is very popular in Milan and Rome so that is where the inspiration came from," Pulze told Caterersearch.com.

"There won't be anything ground-breaking that anyone who has been to Italy before won't already know about. There won't be any molecular gastronomy or anything like that - just delicious, high-quality, traditional Italian food."

Pulze added: "Moges Wolde, my executive chef and right-hand man at Vinum at Vinopolis, will head up the whole operation. The head chef is going to be a very talented chef from Italy who is going to come over."

Vinum was set up in 2001 by Pulze to open Vinopolis's destination restaurants Cantina Vinopolis, Brew Wharf and Wine Wharf.

Pulze, who formerly owned the A-Z Restaurants group and was responsible for some of London's most successful restaurants, now also runs Cuisine Collection, which includes Al Duca, Osteria dell'Angolo, the Beehive, the Honeypot and Zaika.

He also has a 50% share of Latium restaurant with Maurizio Morelli and is working on a new project in Italy, about 15 miles outside Venice.

Vinum named exclusive caterer at Vinopolis >>

Caterersearch 100: Claudio Pulze >>

Claudio Pulze sells Brasserie Sain Jacques >>

By Kerstin Kühn

E-mail your comments to Kerstin Kühn here.

If you have something to say on this story or anything else join the debate at Table Talk - Caterer's new networking forum. Go to www.caterersearch.com/tabletalk

Caterersearch.com jobs

Looking for a new job? Find your next job here with Caterersearch.com jobs