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MASSIMILIANO ROMANO is a Restauranteur & Cocktail Mixer based in Southampton UK

Massimiliano (Max) Romano was born in Palermo Sicily on 19 November 1977 - one of 5 brothers and 3 sisters. His father was a well known Sicilian chef and also a professional marble polisher and restorer.

Aged 18 in 1995 Max left catering college in Sicily and moved to the Sheraton Diana Majestic Hotel in Milan as a bartender. In 1999 he came to England to work at the Lainston House Hotel near Winchester, as a trainee Cocktail Mixer, under his mentor Francesco Oglialoro. In 2003 he joined Claridges Hotel in Mayfair London as Assistant Bar Manager, returning after six months to Lainston House as the Bar Manager. In 2004 he was appointed Bar Manager of the Queen's Hotel in Cheltenham and when that hotel was sold he became the Bar Manager of the Macdonald Alveston Manor Hotel in Stratford on Avon.

In 2009 he was contacted by Christophe Dumeige, one of the leading restaurant managers in the UK, who offered him the position of Bar Manager at the new Lime Wood Hotel near Lyndhurst and during his four years there he met Robin Hutson, one of the most influential figures in the Food & Beverage industry.

As a student Max Romano had a keen interest in physics and a customer at Lime Wood was Professor Alexey Kavokin: a chair of Nanophysics and Photonics at Southampton University and a co-founder with Dr Giuseppe Eramo of the Mediterranean Institute of Fundamental Physics ('MIFP) based in Marino, Rome. (www.mifp.eu)

Professor Kavokin invited Max to join him at MIFP international conferences to mix cocktails for the delegates, who often included Nobel laureates. As a tribute to MIFP, Max created a special cocktail with ingredients taken from the acronym that could be accessed around the globe, namely: Martini Rosso; Ice; Fresh oranges and Pepper from Szechuan. He named it Make It For Pleasure.

Make It for Pleasure was launched at the MIFP conference in Hangzhou China in 2012, in the presence of 500 Chinese scientists, with such success that Max sold them 300 bottles of Martini Rosso infused with Szechuan pepper, which he named MaxAsian. At the time this was the largest single order for Martini Rosso that Martini Shanghai had ever had.

Other cocktails that Max has created include:

Max's Balsamic Gin & Tonic: made with Bombay Gin, 8-10 year old Balsamic Vinegar, Fresh Lime and Mediterranean Tonic Water (originally made with Schweppes tonic at Lainston House in 2001)

Honey Old Fashioned: featuring Jack Daniels Honey, Angostura Bitters, Soda Water, Lemon Zest and lots of Ice. Max made the first of these at Lime Wood Hotel in 2012 with the first bottle of Jack Daniels Honey sold in the UK.

Alcohol free Pimms: created in 2014 especially for a Japanese lady who did not drink alcohol.

In December 2014 Max opened Max's Bar and Brasserie at 40 Oxford Street, Southampton, with a speciality for serving these and other cocktails and individually cooked recipes from Southern Italy. Two experienced chefs were recruited from Campania and Sicily to assist him and it is now rated as one of the top restaurants in Southampton. With the motto Love Slow Food Max's Bar and Brasserie sources local produce whenever possible and is the antithesis to fast food establishments. (www.maxbarbrasserie.co.uk)

In 2003 Max Romano married Bojana (Jana) Ognjenovic in Belgrade Serbia. Jana helps as Front of House in the restaurant and they have two sons: Domenique Dejan (b. 2003) and Cristian Mario (b. 2007)

Apart from his passion for good food, wine, cognac and cigars Max is also an ardent supporter of AC Milan football club and his favourite English club is, of course, Southampton FC.