A NEW sushi takeaway and restaurant is set to open in the centre of Basingstoke next month.

The Sushi Maki is under construction in Festival Place, adjacent to Gourmet Burger Kitchen and formerly where Whittard of Chelsea was based.

The venue will open at the start of December with a capacity of 48 people.

The Sushi Maki already has an outlet in Newbury, which caters for 24 people and has been open for around three years, and specialises in, naturally, Japanese food.

Maria Frade, restaurant manager, said: "We are all about fresh and flavoursome Japanese food and sushi is at the heart of what we do. We have a wide range of dishes designed and created by our chefs. We take great pride in the food and service we provide.

"Both Newbury and Basingstoke are fairly small restaurants with 24 and 48 people capacity respectively - the idea behind this is having a cosy atmosphere where customers get to interact with each other and the staff.

"In the past three years, we have not stopped discovering, exploring and innovating and we are excited to finally bring a sushi place to Basingstoke as well.

"All of our food is prepared right in front of the customers in our open kitchens by our chefs. The freshness, the high quality of the food and the relaxed atmosphere has made The Sushi Maki one of Newbury’s busiest restaurants and today we are aiming and working hard to bring the exact same thing to Basingstoke.”

The Sushi Maki has been a Good Food Award winner three years in a row and won a TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence award in 2016, 2017 and 2018 with a five star rating on the reviews site.