La Cucina restaurant in Oxford's St Clements may look like a simple Italian trattoria from the outside, but appearances can be deceptive. Its owners, Yola Drage and Alberto Brunelli, have both had glittering careers in the hotel industry, Yola as a hotel manager and Alberto as a chef. Their experience shows.

Since opening 18 months ago, the restaurant has become well known for its excellent cuisine and great service.

Mr Brunelli, 39, and Ms Drage, 37, met in 1993 at the five-star Berkeley Hotel, London, where she was a trainee manager with the Savoy group and he was a chef.

It had long been their dream to open a restaurant together, but it took a while as both were thriving in their separate fields.

Ms Drage worked her way up to managing the Berkeley Hotel, while Mr Brunelli worked in top London and Italian hotels.

They wanted to open in Oxford, because Ms Drage spent a year studying at Oxford Brookes University, as part of a five-year apprenticeship with the Savoy group, and liked the city. Eventually Mr Brunelli found a job in Oxford.

He explained: "I opened Quod in the Old Bank and then I opened the Quods in Birmingham, London and in Brighton. I was like an executive chef and I did it for five years."

When the owners decided to change the type of food, they made him redundant and so he went to work for Jon Ellse, who was in the process of transforming the former Blue Palms restaurant in Summertown into a new establishment, Portabello.

The two men made an agreement - Mr Brunelli would help Mr Ellse launch Portabello and in return, Mr Ellse would help him find a location to launch his restaurant.

That opportunity came when the site in St Clements became available. As it was a brand new building, it meant Mr Brunelli and Ms Drage could build their dream restaurant from scratch. They called it La Cucina, which is Italian for The Kitchen.

"We wanted to be open for everybody to maximise the success of the business, so we aimed for family and the occasion," Mr Brunelli explained.

"I wanted a very informal situation where people can come in every day and have something sumptuous, or a nice salad."

There is only a counter separating the kitchen from the tables.

Mr Brunelli said: "When I worked in different hotels, I used to love it when the kitchen was on show, because people were always more relaxed to see the chef working.

"It's like the feeling that you have at home, an extension of your hearth, and that's what I wanted to recreate."

Ms Drage added: "It's like Alberto's house. He's got a massive dining table right next to the kitchen and his Mum and Dad are busy preparing, but they're still talking to you at the same time."

Mr Brunelli remembers when growing up how comforting it was to sit at the table doing his homework, while his mother was cooking.

"You don't even talk sometimes, but you can hear the noise and it gives you comfort at the same time and that's what I wanted to recreate here."

Mr Brunelli decided from the beginning that he would only use fresh produce.

"The only freezer we have is for the ice cream, so there's nothing frozen that you eat," Ms Drage said.

The main menu encompasses pizza and pasta, but for those with a more adventurous palate, Mr Brunelli and his team of chefs offer five to six daily specials, introduced partly to allow the chefs to increase their repertoire.

However, they soon became so popular that the regulars only wanted those.

Ms Drage sai: "Now we have people coming in and saying things like: If I come in next Friday, do you think you could do spaghetti with clams?'"

They have been successful since day one, which Ms Drage says is not just down to the food, but also the service.

"We've created a very strong team of loyal people," she said.

She and Mr Brunelli try to ensure their staff feel appreciated, particularly on nights when they are under pressure from a full restaurant.

"We're right in the middle of it and so it's like one for all and all for one. We're not owner/managers who don't get involved."

Their success is partly down to the way they complement each other and the mutual respect they have for each other's capabilities.

"We trust each other," Mr Brunelli said.

"He's not going to stitch me up and send awful food and I'm not going to treat the food badly," Ms Drage added.

Their plans for the near future are to do more outside catering, but there are no more restaurants in the pipeline.

They believe what they offer is unique and could be replicated well elsewhere.

Lucky Oxford.