A NEW steak restaurant will combine good food with culture when it opens its doors at a prestigious Southampton waterside spot.

Steak of the Art is opening its latest British outlet in Admirals Quay, Ocean Village, bringing 25 new jobs to the city.

The 170-cover restaurant will serve meals within a gallery showcasing quality affordable art.

Bosses have signed the lease for the 4,000sq ft eatery due to open in February with work already under way to fit it out for the big day.

The concept is served up by classically trained chef and art lover Steve Bowen whose drive to provide simple but delicious food, served within an artistically inspired environment has already proved a big hit in Bristol and Cardiff.

The restaurant is split over two floors with 130 covers indoors and 40 outside.

Steve said: “We’re hugely excited about bringing our vision of dining to Southampton.

“We feel that Ocean Village is the ideal place for us. Recent upgrades to the marina, work on the new five-star hotel and a home for other, well-respected retailers, bars and restaurants will see it emerge as a key business and tourist destination.

“The need to have quality places to eat therefore increases and Steak of the Art will provide a place where people can appreciate and enjoy good food in an unpretentious way.

“We insist that all our main ingredients have good provenance with amazing quality, and the Southampton restaurant will be no different with both the meat and fish ingredients coming from our existing Cornwall-based suppliers of Philip Warren butchers and Fish for Thought.”

Steak of the Art’s art co-ordinator Hannah-Jayne Smith said: “The art will be on display throughout the restaurant and will be a mixture of local and published artists from our partner, Knutsford-based gallery Vermillion. People will be able to view the art without necessarily eating. Everything on display will be for sale but we also expect to have some exciting exhibitions, displays and events.

“The interior will be an exhibition of art and we’ve got some exciting and perhaps unusual ideas for Southampton which will make this a dining experience with a difference.