A NEW pop-up beach restaurant, which is described as having the “chilled international vibes” of Miami’s South Beach, has opened in Southbourne this weekend.
Work for SOBO Beach has finally come to an end as the restaurant is set to open on Saturday for breakfast and lunch.
The stylish and cool-looking pop-up restaurant will this weekend serve international food, including pan-Asian cuisine, sushi, stir fry and barbeque food, as well as ice cream and soft drinks.
Operations manager Rich Slater said he can’t serve alcohol until July 19, as the council failed to give a license to the venue in time for opening.
Describing the restaurant, Rich said: “It will be a chilled outside restaurant where people can come and relax and enjoy the beach. We want it to feel like a natural extension of Southbourne beach.
Read more: Southbourne beach to get a new 'Miami South Beach' restaurant
“There is a bus open serving drinks as well as food, a wide range of soft drinks.
“There will be alcohol coming on July 19 as soon as the license comes through. We have a cocktail tiki hut, but ‘FlaminGo Grill’ and ‘Wok Shack’ will be open this weekend.”
SOBO Beach is on the site where Bistro on the Beach used to be before it was demolished in February, and for Rich it has been a lot of hard work to get planning permission and the restaurant built in time for summer.
He said: “The council told us on May 6 we had the site, but we didn’t have everything at that point.
“It was a flat site and we’ve had to build everything.
“It’s been chaotic and stressful at times. We’ve gone between tears of joys and floods of tears generally.
“But the whole team has pulled it out the bag. Everyone on site has busted a nut to get everything ready for this weekend.
“We knew the weather was coming and it’d be hot and sunny. We didn’t want to leave the beach without anything.”
SOBO Beach is open for food and soft drinks from this weekend, with an official opening with alcohol later this month.
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