A tapas restaurant with a twist has chosen Bolton to open its third premises and by far the most successful one yet.

Med 3 is a Mediterranean tapas restaurant serving not only Spanish tapas, but Turkish, Italian and Greek tapas, which is a hit with diners.

Faruk Ozcip owned two Med 3 restaurants already in Bamber Bridge and Leyland before opening the third one in Egerton in May with his wife Kirstie.

The Bolton News: Dishes at Med 3.Dishes at Med 3.

He said: “I promised my wife there’d be no more restaurants but when they came to ask if I’d be interested in opening another one, I couldn’t help myself.

“When my wife saw the place, she loved it and we took it on straight away.

“So far, it’s doing amazing, even better than all of the others we own, and I think it’s down to our good reputation.”

The building was a butchers before Med 3 but the owners had personal health issues to deal with so reluctantly sold it on.

Faruk said: “We do all kinds of tapas and I think that’s what makes us very popular as well as having lots of vegetarian and vegan options on the menu.

“When we first opened one, we had a small tapas menu but noticed it was popular and when we asked people what they wanted, they all said tapas.”

The Bolton News: Dishes at Med 3.Dishes at Med 3.

Faruk met his wife Kirsty in Turkey where he is from, and the couple lived there together for seven years before moving to Clayton-Le-Woods in 2012.

After working in a restaurant in Horwich for some time and making his way to the ranks of restaurant manager, Faruk eventually went into partnership in 2015.

But when the idea of Med 3 came to him, he sold his shares to start a family restaurant with his wife.

He said: “I studied food in Marmaris where I lived in Turkey and the one thing I really do miss is the weather.

“We’re really successful now and even in the first lockdown as some businesses were failing, we were flourishing.

“And because the first one did well we decided to use the same name for the others.

“We opened two restaurants in lockdown including a traditional fine diner Elliiot’s Bistro.”

Faruk worked at a traditional tapas restaurant and after it closed, he worked at an Italian diner which led him to experience different cuisine to incorporate into his own restaurant.