After returning from Italy to the Uk in 1986 and vowing after the bad experience running a restaurant in Italy that we never wanted to run a restaurant again I walked past this beautiful old building in Hockliffe St Leighton Buzzard that had a little "To Let" sign in the window, I peeked through and thought what a lovely little place full of old beams and so much character. When I got home that day I mentioned it to my husband and amazingly we went to have a look, as soon as we walked in and looked around we thought this would make a great little restaurant and so in 1991 Martini Restaurant was opened. We are a family run restaurant, a combination of both classic and modern Italian dishes all prepared by my husband the chef Nello who has over 40 years experience. We wanted to create a menu that would change people's perception, Italian food is so much more then pizza's and spaghetti bolognese, in fact in Italy if you ask for Spaghetti Bolognese they do not know what you mean, the iconic dish is Tagliatelle alla ragu from the food capital of Italy Bologna. Italy is made up of 20 different regions, every town and village makes the same dish in a different way and every town & village has its own speciality. Every 2 weeks we hold a regional cuisine night offering a tasting menu so you can try different dishes from different regions in Italy. Every Thursday evening we now offer an Italian style tapas menu along with a new wine tasting menu. The restaurant also has a lovely covered courtyard for summer Al fresco dining, weather permitting!! We wanted to create a cosy relaxing atmosphere so that when you visit the restaurant we hope that you feel you have stepped into a little part of Italy.
