Gino D'Acampo was spreading the love at his Newcastle restaurant this week during a two-day visit ahead of Valentine's Day.
On Wednesday, the chef-restaurateur was all set to host the first of two special events at his Gino D'Acampo restaurant at INNSiDE hotel on the quayside, including a book signing and meal for fans.
Both that and a similar event to follow this Thursday had proved fast sell-outs and Gino was poised for action: "I'll meet people at their tables, do a book signing and kiss a hell of a lot!"
Read more: Newcastle's Michelin Star chef to open another Quayside restaurant
The genial Gino - a regular on TV with a recent addition to the schedules being ITV show Gino's Italian Family Adventure, which the book is based on - was last at his restaurant on a flying visit in October and is clearly delighted at how popular it has proved since its opening in 2021.
"Newcastle is probably the best restaurant of our business that we have at the moment, of all the group," he says.
"I'm very pleased."
He has new plans for it too. Following the success of the Winter Chalet - a temporary pop-up that took shape there in the run-up to Christmas - there is to be a new terrace, a permanent attraction, outdoors by summer.
"We are building a terrace in the restaurant," he says, adding that it will give outside diners the chance to "prolong the evening and enjoy looking at the river and beautiful weather - or even if it's not."
There also will be a spring and summer menu to look forward to, featuring dishes with new season ingredients such as courgette flowers and including something of a surprise - a Nutella chocolate-base pizza.
It's Gino's travels that often inspire ideas for his menu but this one was suggested by his three children.
"I make it at home," he says of the sweet pizza, "and they always say 'put it on the menu'." He had a bit of a fight on his hands from his head chef Andy Owen - who he jokingly calls "Mr Miserable" - and says: "He finally agreed!
"So I've managed to put chocolate pizza on the menu!"
In the meantime, Gino is encouraging Geordies - checking first that is the right term to use - to dine out on the current menu over Valentine's Day and, a true advocate of his restaurant whose seasonally-changing menu captures a taste of his homeland, he himself doesn't eat anywhere else when he visits.
During his North East stop-offs in a busy schedule, he will have a walk along the river but says: "It's nice to remain where I am.
"I don't want to go to other places. I like my restaurant - I've no urge to see others."
Has he had any problems with the local accent? "No, I've not - but I don't understand it," he jokes.
On his previous visit, Gino was asked if he had sampled Greggs - which won more praise this week from Hollywood star fan Kiefer Sutherland - and now claims that on his journey home they had stopped off to buy a sausage roll and Cornish-style pasty.
Did he like them? Not really.
Maybe Greggs would do - as a Burger King might, he suggests - if it was a cold day and you were starving but he wouldn't seek it out. "It was alright; I preferred the pasty I think."
More of the kind of food that Gino is famously passionate about will be revealed in another upcoming book and TV series which share the same title.
"I'm writing a new book which is called Like Mamma Used To Make and I'm doing a brand new series for ITV."
This will see him start off in his native Naples and visit cities such as the capital Rome and Bologna exploring childhood-food memories and "wonderful recipes" along the way.
While there is no news about the possibility of completing the last series of ITV's Gordon, Gino and Fred Go Greek, whose filming was cut short due to the pandemic, Gino is taking full advantage of the easing of travel restrictions to make other TV shows.
He will be teaming up with old pal Fred Sirieix on a new road trip - without Ramsey this time who has his own filming commitments abroad - to "travel the world and eat some bizarre food".
What might be considered delicacies in various countries, even the likes of testicles and rotten eggs, will be put to the taste test, sounding more akin to the eating trials that feature in Ant and Dec's series I'm A Celebrity, Get Met Out Of Here! which Gino won in 2009.
"Probably the idea came from there!" he says, adding that there isn't really anything edible that he wouldn't try.
For local fans who are missing out on this week's meet-and-greet evenings in Newcastle, Gino says he will be hosting more of the same in the future.
However, they will have to fit in around a hectic schedule which also will see Gino fronting a TV dating show in May, filmed at his home in Sardinia where he spends half the year.
"In my villa I've set up a cookery school and I'm going to invite four to six single people," he says.
British contestants will be paired up in the kitchen and will be hopefully polishing both their cooking and dating skills.
And Gino is determined to get some couples matched up, saying: "I want to make sure they get a date."
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