PEOPLE will be able to get a taste of the Caribbean in the heart of Bradford city centre at a new diner.
Kokobay Caribbean opened inside Sunbridge Wells yesterday after a successful launch party at the weekend.
Owner Errol Watson grew up in Bradford and said the “centre of town is missing this kind of food” and believes it is in demand.
“The reason we decided to do it is because I’m quite disappointed with the lack of Caribbean cuisine, especially in the city centre,” he said.
“It’s definitely in demand and wanted by people in Bradford, so I decided to do something different,” he said.
The new diner will serve traditional Caribbean cuisine; some new, reinvented Caribbean cuisine with a modern twist, as well as some Caribbean cocktails.
“We’ve got things like a curried goat which everyone already knows, jerk chicken and also new dishes that we have created such as stuffed dumplings with things like chicken and tuna fish inside and creoles, and also some vegetarian food,” he added.
Mr Watson, who is Jamaican himself but has lived in Bradford since he was seven, said the new venue is a diner rather than just a bar and all the food is cooked by a chef on the premises.
Mr Watson opened the doors over the weekend to some invited guests and said the turnout was “unbelievable”.
He said: “I’ve been away for a long time opening bars in Spain and I didn’t know how opening something like this would go in Bradford, but we had an absolutely amazing turnout.
“The opening party went above and beyond how I expected and I’m glad we’ve put the diner on the map.
“It just shows the demand for good quality Caribbean food, I couldn’t have wished for a better opening.”
The diner will also play Caribbean-style music throughout, with the vision to host themed nights in the future.
Mr Watson’s has opened businesses in Bradford in the past, including a Caribbean restaurant called Cocobana, as well as owning some pubs on Manor Row when “it was the place to go” in the city centre.
He spent the past 20 years in Spain, opening bars over there, but has now returned to where he grew up to give Bradford a taste of the Caribbean.
The new diner will be open five days a week, from Tuesday until Saturday inside Sunbridge Wells.
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