A Bermuda restaurant is on-line, providing itself 24-hour a day international advertising on the Internet.

And the new owner of Primavera Restaurant, Odilio Angeli, said he has already won overseas bookings as a result.

The sale of the restaurant closed late last month when Mr. Angeli, the restaurant manager of three years bought out Manuel Sequeros, the owner of Tio Pepe's in Southampton.

Mr. Angeli said: "We are the first restaurant on the dining/entertainment guide of the Internet for Bermuda. We put our logo and a huge home page that I made myself, using software I got off the Internet.

"We have a picture with a Christmas menu, lunch and dinner menu, the special of the day for lunch and for dinner. We also have some funny pictures of the staff walking around the restaurant and also have pictures of the actual dish.

"We call it cyber-manger, because you can look at and choose a dish before you come. We've already had reservations from the US. One booking was for a group of 40 people.

"They can E-Mail us or telephone us and tell us what they want to eat before they even arrive in the Island.

"It's the best type of advertising, because it is essentially advertising 24 hours a day for six months. And its amazing the number of people who are on the Internet.

While he believes his is the only restaurant so far taking advantage of Internet advertising, he expects that it is the way of the future.

An upstairs room, segregated from the main restaurant is being re-opened as a wine bar.

The restaurant purchase comes as Bermuda's traditional tourism business remains faced with an uncertain future. Mr. Angeli however, is optimistic about the Island's future.

He said, "I have confidence in Bermuda and we have a good product at the restaurant. We emphasise service. We attract business from both the local and the tourist market.'' The Pitts Bay Road establishment draws on tourism from several nearby hotels and Mr. Angeli said that the ten staff are mindful of the fact that if you treat any customer to the best, they are likely to return.

He said, "We've been lucky that some tourists return more than once during the course of their stay.'' He is concerned, just as other business leaders are though, about the need to improve Bermuda's overall product.

Originally from Lake Como, near Milan in the North of Italy, and now married to a Bermudian, he said, "I've been here for almost ten years and when I arrived in the Island in 1987 it was different. The foreigners who worked here and Bermudians were much friendlier and much more professional.

"It seems like the foreigners who arrive here now are of a declining standard. They are sloppier and it doesn't seem that immigration is not as careful as they should be.

"When I came here I had to meet high standards. But today, we should at least be only allowing people here who speak English well enough to get by.'' Mr. Angeli is also concerned that too many Bermudians see the hospitality industry in a negative light. He feels more should learn that you need not feel servile to give outstanding service.

"People in the hotel or restaurant business should do it with pride,'' he said, "not thinking they are slaves or working like servants. They are professionals, doing something they are paid for.'' He is an example. The newest restaurateur began his career as a busboy. He said he worked at it, unlike some who use it for summer or sometime employment. It's not, he assures, simply about throwing plates onto a table.

"There is a way you put a plate on the table and there is a way you present a particular dish, and there is way you carry yourself around the dining room.

You are a professional in the restaurant business.

"And you get knowledgeable about food and wine so that you can discuss such subjects with the guests.'' The restaurant seats about 75 downstairs and 60 upstairs. He said that he is concentrating right now on opening the upstairs wine bar, with an 80-bottle wine list.