A man who recently opened a brand-new independent Italian restaurant has said that business is booming. 

Gourmet Pasta, which opened its doors in Newbury a few months prior, has seen success after success with customers loving the eatery's new take on traditional pasta dishes. 

Owner Hugo Lesser, who previously had never worked in food before, found his love for this new type of pasta whilst living in South America for a brief period.

He discovered that hoards of Italians immigrated there hundreds of years ago, and subsequently set up multiple restaurants to share their native cuisine. 

"Because there were different ingredients available there, Italian food sort of evolved differently," Mr Lesser said. 

Since opening in late June, Mr Lesser said that the restaurant has been doing lots of exciting things, including a monthly Jazz night and fresh pasta-making courses. 

Mr lesser continued: "We've been open for three months now and the number of diners has steadily picked up throughout.

"We've also started doing events, and at the moment we have around two or three midweek events every month."

He said that the two jazz nights they have had so far have been completely packed out, and upcoming performances will take place on the fourth Wednesday of each month. 

The restaurant has a piano and different singers accompany the pianist with each performance. "It's not jazz that's too loud so it allows people to dine and chat, but it's still good quality," Mr Lesser said. 

The pasta-making classes are also proving to be super popular. The restaurant's head chef hosts them for an hour each time which is then followed by a delicious dinner. 

These take place on the third Wednesday of each month where attendees can make fresh pasta from flour and dough. 

When asked what dishes are proving to be best sellers, Mr Lesser said that their fresh egg tagliatelle with a slow-cooked beef ragu sauce is flying at the moment. 

"Our other best seller is one of our gourmet pasta dishes which is the green sorrentinos filled pasta which is like a big round ravioli. The pasta is green because we cook spinach in it," he said.

"These are filled with chicken and prosciutto with a cream and mushroom sauce."

Gourmet Pasta has also just launched their range of dishes to cook at home, which includes the sorrentinos pasta plates. 

Customers can also buy a selection of sauces to go with them.