Port of fine food & vino

July 1997 and the Portofino lease is finally signed. It was like someone had opened up the floodgates after three years’ wait. I fished the plans off the shelf and dusted them off. The architect came back on board and suggested a local builder to undertake the project. Within a week, we began planning the alterations to the empty first floor unit on the Historic Quay. It was a very exciting time. Karen and I started deciding on the colour scheme, the flooring, the décor, etc.… We travelled to many warehouses all over the country to buy new crockery and decorative items, from mirrors to pottery, plastic plants and flowers. As the contractors gave me an opening date of mid-October, I decided to do quite a bit of the work myself. With an Algerian friend of mine, who is now living in Quebec, I tiled all the toilet walls, the front of the bar and kitchen servery. With the leftover broken tiles, I designed a mosaic dado rail. That was fun as it was just a case of slapping on some plaster and hoping for the best. Malcolm, the joiner who did most of the work, gave me a few woodwork tips as I struggled to build the shutters. We wanted to put our stamp on Portofino and chose four primary colours to use randomly around the restaurant. Even the wooden chairs were painted in the same shades with the logo on the back. 

The end result couldn’t have been that bad as we won the Hartlepool Civic Society Interior Design Award.  

I began advertising for staff in August and soon drew up a shortlist of chefs, managers, servers and cleaners. I had a fairly good idea what the menu would be as a friend of mine ran a popular place which I liked in Sunderland called the Flying Pizza. I took one of the chefs I had recruited to a catering warehouse in Team Valley to help me choose the equipment we needed. I was like a kid in a toy shop! Among other kitchen appliances, we selected a gigantic pizza oven which lasted us over 19 years. As October got closer and with the imminent opening, I began compiling order forms from suppliers’ price lists, design menus and wine lists. 
When it came to the chef standing at the door, he painted a man’s face on the mural. 
Where I intended to have a dessert corner, I asked a freshly-graduated graphic artist who was labouring for the joiner, to paint me a patisserie shop front. I was thinking about a cartoon style mural, but the detail was incredible; he even drew tiny hairs on the strawberries. 
Karen asked who it was. He said: “My dad”. We had a quick chat and concluded that painting my “ugly mug” on the wall would stop customers asking the same question. 

Over the months, I got to know Malcolm, the joiner quite well and discovered that he only like plain foods. So, I managed to persuade him to try a pizza and got the Egyptian pizza chef to make him one on the eve of opening. He thoroughly enjoyed it and promised to visit Portofino regularly once the restaurant had opened. A promise he kept for several years. 

The opening day arrived.