A popular Saint John Mediterranean restaurant has opened its new location on the city’s east side.
Taste of Egypt is now located on East Point Way, next to the former goji’s Neighbourhood Treatery.
“It’s exciting. We didn’t know if the time was ever going to happen,” vice-president Paula Radwan said in an interview Thursday.
The restaurant’s uptown location closed in May as the King Street building they were located in was being demolished to make way for a new development.
Radwan said their search for a new location actually started a few months earlier in February, but the COVID-19 pandemic made things quite challenging.
“It’s made things a bit of a nightmare, to be honest,” Radwan said. “With COVID, unfortunately, supply chains have been very difficult so even getting something like a freezer has become extremely challenging.”
The construction boom witnessed throughout the Greater Saint John region also added to the delays, she said.
But despite taking longer than expected to get everything ready, Radwan said they are happy to be up and running.
“We really miss being in Uptown Saint John but we feel that this new opportunity is going to be great for our business,” she said.
The new restaurant has 84 seats compared to the 60 it had uptown, and they hope to open a 30-seat patio next summer. There are also 60 free parking spaces around the building, providing ample space for customers to park.
Radwan said the new location is also much brighter with large windows at the front and back of the restaurant.
“We were able to build the business for us,” said Radwan. “Which we didn’t do a whole lot of reconstruction at our previous location, this has been all reconstructed.”
The restaurant features new unique décor, including a mural at the front, a new logo, and die-cutting out of wood in the shape of an Egyptian cartouche — a carving that has an inscription of hieroglyphics which spells out King Tut.
Radwan and her team also brought a piece of their King Street location that was never used there: a tabletop statue of King Tut that was originally used as a display Birks jewellers.
“I guess years ago, Birks actually was selling some jewellery that looked like Pharaonic jewellery, something that the queens would have worn and the kings would have worn back in ancient Egyptian times,” she said. “They had this statue as a display case to feature their jewellery. We re-did it and we have it on our counter here.”
Taste of Egypt and its 15 new staff members had a soft opening on Sunday, and Radwan said customers have been extremely supportive.
“When it comes to your guests coming in, they want to support local,” she said. “They know that people have had challenges during the pandemic and they want to make sure that your business is going to be OK and you’re going to be here for them in the future.”
“There’s no other place to have a business than in Saint John.”
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