Some customers get irritated and some understand, so it is a mixture.” So we had to substitute with a different bread. “Lately, we ordered flatbread for paninis, but that did not come. “Certain items we can not put on the menu, because we can’t guarantee it every day,” he said. Mr Fernandes has also been impacted by global shipping delays, shortages and rising food costs. There is now some outdoor seating on Reid Street. The plan is to eventually extend the restaurant’s hours to 9pm on weekdays, when the weather warms up a bit. It helps them hold a part-time job, and eases up their parents a bit.” “One wants to become a doctor and another does graphic art. “They are not in the hotel industry,” he said. He now employs two chefs and four Bermuda College students who work part-time. In 2017, he was able to buy the restaurant. He first came to Bermuda 22 years ago to run Chatterbox Café for then owner Wayne Furbert. Mr Fernandes is originally from Goa, India. Thankfully, we are trying to rise up with some changes. “You have to leave the frustration on one side and move forward. “But you can not be frustrated all the time,” he said. Mr Fernandes said it is easy to get frustrated with the pandemic. “We did that for the first time last Sunday and it was really popular,” Mr Fernandes said. Now they are adding to that with a Filipino buffet.Īnthony Fernandes has added an Indian buffet to the Chatterbox Cafe menu (Photograph by Jessie Moniz Hardy) On Sunday mornings they have always offered a popular codfish breakfast. “And we are still doing that, but we wanted to offer something more.” “Before this we were always about sandwiches and à la carte,” he said. Bonefish curry, vegetable samosas, and coriander lamb curry are just a few of the new Indian buffet offerings. Instead of dialling back, he is moving forward, adding a lunchtime Indian buffet, and a soup and salad bar. He is sure that things will get better when more office staff finally return to working in Hamilton, but in the meantime, he has been forced to pivot to keep things going. “With many people still working from home, business has been down about 70 to 80 per cent,” said owner Anthony Fernandes. The coffee flowed, and the eatery did a lot of catering for the surrounding businesses.Īll that changed when Covid-19 hit the world in March 2020. Staff at Chatterbox: From left, Joao Fernandes, Morgan Donawa, Geraldine Taquiqui, owner Anthony Fernandes, Jerisiah Balboda, and Sandeep Kumar (Photograph supplied)Ĭhatterbox Restaurant on Reid Street was a bustling place.
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