By Johannes Hangula
THE FNB Namibia Restaurant Week kicked off last Tuesday and will run until September 11. This is the second year that the festival is being hosted to show support towards the local hospitality industry.
Madri Frewer, marketing manager at FNB said, “Last year this was an innovative first for Namibia and a successful gastronomic festival and we are thus proud to support it again in 2016. The FNB Restaurant Week is aimed at contributing to uplifting customer service in the hospitality industry and through our support has enabled highly skilled trainers to come to Namibia and train our local restaurant industry on various aspects of the hospitality environment, from overall customer service, to chefs’ training and specialised training. It is all about uplifting and highlighting the customer service industry in Namibia, which we know can benefit from such training.”
This year a number of exciting changes are introduced, including the voting categories, which differ from last year and is contested by Mugg & Bean the Grove, La Brocante, The Joy of Food, Krisjans Bistro, Teapot Coffee Shop, Lemon Tree Restaurant, Cafe Dulce Megabuild, Mojoes,Toulmins, Jonno’s Bistro and Fork n Nice; the restaurant category that is contested by Kubata, Fresh N Wild Utopia, Crazy Mamas, Casa Forno Restaurant, The Fish, Deli, NICE, Garnish Windhoek, Garnish Swakopmund, The Olive, Welwitschia, Haiku Sushi Bar, Xwama , Brewer & Butcher, Farmhouse Deli, Ocean Cellar, Bauernstube Family, Corner of 62nd, Roof of Africa, Daisho Sushi and Outjo Farmhouse Restaurant and fine dining category is contested by The Weinberg Craft Kitchen, Hotel Heinitzburg, while better prizes for winning establishments are also up for grabs.
“Restaurants have also amended their special FNB Restaurant Week menu’s to compliment the industry’s drive for fine dining during this week. Further – this year, those in the cafe/bistro category are highlighted as open only during breakfast and lunch, restaurants only for lunch and dinner and those in the fine dining category only for dinner. Lastly – we have added the QR coding on the mobile app for voting purposes, which means you have to be in the restaurant to scan the code and then vote,” she said.
Frewer explained that it was up to the visitors of the restaurants to share their experience with all and to rate the restaurant that they have frequented. “All of us should work together to ensure that restaurants know what they did well and where they can still improve. Only if we know about our strengths and weaknesses, can we improve upon these.”
Restaurant-goers are encouraged to sample as many menus from the participating restaurants between August 23 and September 11. During that week the restaurants will also offer special restaurant menus with a variety of prices.
Download the FNB Restaurant Week app, find participating restaurants and view the menus for the duration of FNB Restaurant Week.