from FUTHI MBHELE in Durban
KwaZulu Natala Bureau
DURBAN, (CAJ News) – MARKING one year under new ownership, the Julio’s Cabana restaurant has set its sights on reviving the business to pre-pandemic levels.
This as South Africa returns to normalcy after a past couple of years characterised by the COVID-19.
Then under the ownership of Andras Fenyvas, who owned it for three years, Julio’s Cabana was among eateries that bore the brunt of the pandemic.
“Unfortunately, COVID-19 pandemic didn’t work out well for the restaurant business and so he sold it to us a year ago,” said new proprietor, Rookesh Surajlall.
He told Durban Today that the restaurant in Durban North recently marked the one-year anniversary of ownership with some specials.
“So, we are relatively new owners of the company, we are also looking at increasing business since the country is starting to return to normal,” Surajlall.
“Of course restaurant’s are not as busy as they used to be,” he said.
“I believe this is because as restaurants, we generally discuss business. From that perspective, I know that there hasn’t been a return pre-COVID but it has been improving.”
A lot of specific dishes on Julio’s Cabana cuisine are oriented towards Mozambique-Portuguese.
“For example, we offer a prawn curry and it’s done in Mozambique style. And, because we are in Durban we also offer Durban Indian curry with a slight Portuguese peri-peri hint on it,” Surajlall.
The restaurant also offers prawn and calamari or prawn and chicken done Mozambique style.
“But if you are in Durban and you feel like a nice hot Durban curry then our chef’s can also do that for you,” said Surajlall.
“Like I said, our cuisine is oriented towards a host of Portuguese dishes. We have the Portuguese paella, which has all the sea food in it.”
The restaurant, according to the owner, is famous for seafood platters and Portuguese steak.
“We also quite famous for our combos,” Surajlall said.
Every morning, the chefs get up to make different sauces for the restaurant from scratch.
“We are not a fast food place, so everything is from freshly made ingredients. We try as far as possible to source our veggies from mostly small-scale farmers.”
That is supplemented by some smaller crops such as chillies and peppers the restaurant grows.
“We not yet at a level that we can produce enough for the restaurant on a daily basis,” Surajlall concluded.
– CAJ News