17-05-2025
New Italian restaurant with Asian twist to open
A new Italian restaurant with a differencxe is set to open along a high street in Dorset next month.
The owners of a new Italian restaurant with an Indian twist are excited ahead of opening along the High West Street in Dorchester next month.
Varun Pizza is set to open around mid-June, according to new owner Varun Balagopalan, taking on at the site of the former takeaway Mega Pizza, which closed suddenly in March.
Mr Balagopalan, who will be running the business with his wife Maryna, has spoken of his excitement, and what visitors can expect from the new restaurant.
He said: 'We're waiting a maximum of a month before we open. We've had a complete re-build and re-branding and have had to work around Bank Holidays and Easter but now we're on track to complete the finishing touches soon.'
Varun and Maryna of Varun Pizza in Dorchester, opening next month (Image: Varun Pizza) The servings dished up at the new restaurant will initially be pizza, with a twist of Indian fusion, according to Mr Balagopalan, before more will be added in the months following.
He said: 'We wanted to bring our passions to Dorchester and 90 per cent of the menu will be what you would expect at a standard Italian, with 10 per cent fusion of Indian food which is our unique selling point.
'We also have a number of salads and starters before we will slowly add things like pasta to the menu, as we have done with our other business.'
Mr Balagopalan already operates Varun Pizza in Lymington for the past few years, and is hoping to bring that same quality of care and food to the county town of Dorset.
He said: 'We are very proud of our popularity in Lymington, especially with our Gluten Free pizza option. It's the best quality in the area because we import a special, quite expensive, base from Italy. A lot of customers really praise us on our base quality, expecting only the best nice and tasty pizzas.
"We're looking forward to sharing this with the people of Dorchester and can't wait to get started."
