The team behind Caribe Latin Kitchen tomorrow open the doors to Caribe on Fire — an Argentinian-style barbecue restaurant and cafe — in neighbouring premises formerly occupied by Lobster Tank.
Richard Castro, Carolina Guajardo, Santiago Bonhomme and Hazel Nicoll have spent the past fortnight putting the final touches on their new venture, where customers can watch their food being cooked over a charcoal grill.
The adjoining cafe, with a main entrance around the corner on Camp St, offers South American-style breakfast and cakes until 11am — coffee’s available all day — before switching to lunch mode.
Castro says they’ve decorated the new space with a "rustic, authentic" feel, accentuated by the fire of the barbecue and the smell of Colombian coffee.
With tourist numbers returning to pre-Covid levels, they had an opportunity to enlarge their kitchen, broaden their menu and improve the customer experience, he says.
It’s given them the chance to put more seating outside, which will also benefit their Caribe Latin Kitchen customers.
Customers can order classic Latin American cocktails — think margarita, pisco sour, caipirinha and mojito — Argentinian and Chilean wine, as well as a selection of local beer and wine.
As with Caribe Latin Kitchen, which celebrated its 10th anniversary last August, their philosophy is to "bring the food we love from home to Queenstown", Castro says.
"We make all the sauces, and we’ve always tried to make it as authentic as possible, using New Zealand’s fresh ingredients.
"After all these years, people appreciate us doing it that way."
Guajardo says the resort town’s large Latin American community has always supported Caribe Latin Kitchen because they "feel at home" there.
Its music, friendly staff, art and photos on the walls and vibrant colours have also proved attractive to tourists of all nationalities, as well as the resort’s residents.
Castro says they feel grateful to have overcome the ups and downs of the past decade.
"Our landlord has been very understanding — he looked after us during the Covid situation — and the locals supported us.
"That helped us to survive."
