Popular Banbury eatery set to reopen as Mexican street food restaurant

Ilja Abbatista decided to close the popular eatery in late July after the Covid-19 lockdown.

But she announced today, Wednesday October 7, she will be opening the North Bar restaurant as a Mexican street food venue.

The first day of trading will be this Sunday October 11 from 12 to 9pm seven days a week.

It will be strictly takeaways and deliveries to start with due to the ongoing social distancing guidelines for the coronavirus pandemic. She hopes to add a dine-in service at a later to be determined date.

Ilja said: "We want to open safely and comfortably."

Ms Abbatista opened Little Amsterdam in 2014, and within nine months received the Cafe of the Year award. It was one of only three Oxfordshire restaurants to be featured in the book Where Chefs Eat above Raymond Blanc's Le Manoir Aux Quat Saisons.

The restaurant premises in North Bar is underwent a complete metamorphosis to give her customers a new and authentic experience.

She added: "We use fresh authentic ingredients. It will be very very different to what we were doing before. This will be a great place for people to go before going out for the evening."

Everything is different such as how she moved the kitchen downstairs and recreated a menu that could work for a fast paced burrito and taco bar.

People can expect to find popular Mexican style food such as nachos, quesadillas, burritos and tacos. She's also looking at offering alcoholic milk shakes along with some other 'fantastic' cocktails in the future.

For more information about Taquero Banbury, including how make orders online see their website here: https://www.taquero.co.uk/Ilja said: "It's a really funky fun place. This is what we've had to do in order to survive. We just hope everyone enjoys it."