THE GODFATHER of Italian cooking made his first visit to his new restaurant in Worcester, hoping it will be a family affair.

Antonio Carluccio visited his 69th Carluccio’s restaurant in CrownGate Shopping Centre for a special launch event yesterday.

The legendary chef said his company looked for a “long, long time” for a new venue and he was keen to see all generations dining.

He said: “To be a Carluccio’s, it has to be a very special position where success is guaranteed.

“This will do very well. The constancy of people passing by. I can understand that a smaller town needs something funky and this is serious funkiness with good food, good ambience and the personnel are very nice.

“We take care of the personnel.”

Mr Carluccio said the importance of Carluccio’s is that it caters for everybody.

“That was my concern at the beginning, to serve everybody,” he said.

“In the morning, you see mothers and babies. It’s lovely to see that. In many restaurants, they do not want to see babies but they are the future customers.

“The principle of Carluccio’s is to have a good place, inviting every possible person.”

Mr Carluccio said that the agriculture is “very good” in Worcestershire and said food had to be included according to season, and he would use ingredients such as asparagus and pears.

He said: “The various branches have the opportunity to play with the menu on the day.”

Mr Carluccio said his restaurants also use local produce if it is “very good” but also bring in a lot of ingredients from Italy, such as tomatoes and dried spaghetti.

But he said a similar sauce to Worcestershire’s most famous export, Lea and Perrins Worcestershire Sauce, had already been invented by the Romans, in which they used anchovies.

He said: “I wonder if they knew about that?

“I may create more recipes involving Worcestershire sauce. Worcestershire sauce is a very good sauce.

“I use it a lot in English cooking, especially steak and kidney pie.”