A new Jamaican restaurant is due to open in Ipswich next month, with authentic cuisine on the menu.

Owner Fabio Dimuccio is opening up Jamaica Street restaurant and bar in Upper Orwell Street, in the former Baipo Thai restaurant.

“It will be traditional food, cooked the way we would do it at home and prepared from scratch,” he said.

Dishes on the menu will include jerk chicken, made with real jerk pans like those used in Jamaica, curried goat, and ackee and saltfish, which is Jamaica’s national dish.

Mr Dimuccio believes the restaurant will fill a gap, and said there was nothing similar in the area. The restaurant’s Facebook page says: “Jamaica Street will help to enrich and diversify the food culture in Suffolk.”

It will have a family atmosphere, with the bar downstairs and a separate family area upstairs, where children will be welcome.

Mr Dimuccio, 30, has always wanted to open a restaurant. “I actually had this idea when I was 16,” he said. “I did a food business course when I was 17, through the Prince’s Trust, but I didn’t go ahead with it then.”

He explained he had decided to wait because he didn’t want to get into debt, so he had worked in other fields including an estate agent’s and a call centre.

After saving up for years to open the restaurant, in addition to family investments, he now feels the time is right to go ahead with the launch.

Mr Dimuccio grew up in Ipswich, and older members of his family came over in the Windrush. He said: “My family has helped me out, and it has been a lot easier with the family backing. Sadly, my nan died recently.”

Work is currently being carried out to renovate the building, and Jamaica Street will start taking bookings a few weeks before it opens, which is expected to be in late February.