A COUPLE who moved from Romania to Newport say they’ve realised their dream by opening a new eatery in the city centre.

Florin and Madalina Ivanus have recently celebrated the opening of Salt and Pepper Tavern, which is located on Commercial Street.

The husband and wife duo, who moved to the UK six years ago, previously owned two restaurants in Romania’s capital Bucharest for more than 15 years.

They’re hoping that their latest venture will introduce new cuisines to Newport.

“I want this place to have a Mediterranean feel,” Mr Ivanus told the Argus.

“We’ve got Romanian, Greek, and Bulgarian food, as well as other tradition European cuisines.

South Wales Argus: Owners Madalina and Florin Ivanus say they've realised their dream by opening their new eatery.Owners Madalina and Florin Ivanus say they've realised their dream by opening their new eatery.

“We also supply the goods each day – so everything is fresh and nothing we do is frozen.”

Mr Ivanus’ wife, Madalina, is the head chef at Salt and Pepper Tavern, which has been open for ten days and is already looking to recruit staff.

“We’re going to be making ourselves available to Uber Eats next week,” Mr Ivanus added.

“Business is good so far – but we know there’s always room for improvement.

“We used to run two successful restaurants back in Bucharest – we had those for more than 15 years.

“It was about six years ago that we sold up those businesses and moved here to the UK. Initially we were based in Bristol but have since moved over to Newport.

“All our friends called us crazy, but it was our dream to open a restaurant here. We needed to take time to learn the British way to live but we think we’ve got there now.”

Asides from its Mediterranean cuisine, Salt and Pepper Tavern is also in the business of serving up traditional English Breakfasts.

“We’re also doing more familiar meals as well – so we’ve got a real nice range of options for people.”