Six weeks after a nor’wester demolished his restaurant, Vivo owner Franck Bottero was back at the helm of the popular West Bay eatery which reopened on Wednesday.
The intervening weeks have been spent re-equipping the kitchen, getting new furniture and drying out the waterfront premises on North West Point Road.
“It’s so good to be back,” Bottero said on Wednesday evening.
He didn’t announce the opening in advance, he said, as he wanted to have a “soft” launch, to ensure everything was running smoothly.
He said he’d told a handful of people, trusting that word of mouth would bring in some diners on the first day.
But by mid-afternoon, he’d already had about 35 customers, including “tourists who were passing who hadn’t known we’d been closed”.
Everything in the restaurant had to be rebuilt or replaced – counters, shelves, tables – following the overnight storm on 5-6 Feb, which brought massive waves crashing through the ground floor of Lighthouse Point, where Vivo and the Divetech shop are located, and Lighthouse Point Residences next door.
Even the restaurant’s large fridges were smashed to pieces by the force of the waves that surged through its big wooden and metal door and its hurricane-proof windows. In a description of the scene at the time, Bottero said, “It literally blew the entire restaurant into a thousand pieces inside.”
The menu has shrunk for the time being, Bottero said on Wednesday, but all the old favourites are still there – phad thai, coconut ceviche, cauliflower steak, the Vivo salad and fish tacos – as well as a few new additions.
He says he’s going to open the restaurant seven days a week from now on, rather than the previous six, and is looking forward to welcoming customers back.
Vivo was one of a number of restaurants that were forced to close for repairs following the storm in February.
Macabuca and the Cracked Conch, located half a mile away along North West Point Road, were also wrecked in the storm. While Macabuca has reopened, work is still under way on its upstairs sister restaurant, the Cracked Conch.
Sunset House’s outdoor bar and restaurant on South Church Street in George Town were also badly damaged, but have also reopened.
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