If you enjoy the Seychelles’ Creole cuisine but live in the United Kingdom, a newly opened Seychellois-owned restaurant is the place for you.
The restaurant — ‘Seychelles Gastronomy’– which opened last week in the heart of Bournemouth — a coastal city 2.5 hours southwest of London — offers authentic Creole cuisine. It is the brainchild of Seychellois couple Georgette and Peter Smith.
“After the successful opening of our two restaurants in Seychelles, namely Lobster Bay at Anse à la Mouche and The Market Bistro in Victoria market, it has always been our dream to open a restaurant in the UK,” Georgette Smith told SNA.
The restaurant which opened last week in the heart of Bournemouth is the brainchild of Seychellois couple Georgette (middle) and Peter Smith (left). (Jake Rushton) Photo License: All Rights Reserved
Seychelles Gastronomy is offering à la carte menu plus a daily special. The restaurant also has its signature dish, ‘Yvonne’s Snapper.’ This is a moist red snapper fillet, pan-cooked with lots of spices and flavours served on a banana leaf with cassava, breadfruit or sweet potato wedge.
If you are missing Seychelles, then the restaurant has just the thing for you — ‘Seychelles on a Plate,’ giving you a taste of the island nation at one go. ‘Seychelles on a Plate’ is served in little portions with four local dishes displayed on seashells.
Lunch is served from 12 noon to 3 p.m. and dinner from 6 p.m. to 10 pm. Both bookings and walk-ins are accepted at the restaurant which opens six days a week and is closed on Tuesdays.
Georgette Smith, who is a talented cook, believes that the restaurant will bring a sense of being in the Seychelles from the exotic décor, the aroma of the spices, the flavours of the creole food in a creole cultural surroundings, to top it up with the creole music.
Seychelles Gastronomy will not only provide succulent dishes to excite your taste bud but will also entice you in with its unique décor.
Georgette Smith said the restaurant will bring a sense of being in the Seychelles from the exotic décor. (Jake Rushton) Photo License: All Rights Reserved
“A lot of hard work brainstorming has been done to incorporate the Seychelles’ culture and décor in the architectural designs, reflecting the drive and determination involved to achieve our goals,” Georgette Smith told SNA.
She added that “the interior decoration has been done in a rustic style with accessories, which reflects the Seychelles’ culture such as bamboo, seashells, coconut wood and thatched leaves.”
Authentic Seychellois Creole Cuisine will be accompanied if you so desire by a Seychelles-made beer.
The Seychelles Breweries has agreed to work with the Seychelles Gastronomy restaurant and will provide consignments of the well-known Seybrew beer to be sold.
So there is the food, the drink, the décor and to top all of that will be the nonstop Creole music in the background. Customers will be transported to the 115-island archipelago in the western Indian Ocean with a slide show of Seychelles sceneries.
Customers of the Seychelles Gastronomy restaurant will be transported to the Seychelles’ archipelago. (Jake Rushton) Photo License: All Rights Reserved
With over 20 years working in the hospitality industry, Georgette said that “we are confident that it will be successful in bringing the Seychelles culture to Bournemouth and will hopefully entice people to visit Seychelles.”
This was echoed by her husband Peter Smith who said that “Bournemouth is home to a sizeable number of Seychellois, it will be great every now and then for them to taste what they have been missing from home. “
He added that “with the town’s status as a holiday destination it would be not hard to get customers.”
For short-term future plans, Georgette Smith said that extensive training will be given to locals from Bournemouth in the Creole cuisine due to immigration restrictions.
SNA presents a photo selection of some menus available at the Seychelles Gastronomy. (Jake Rushton) Photo License: All Rights Reserved
