Pinehas Nakaziko
Windhoek-The Avenue is a new eatery spot that, after opening its doors on May 19 this year, continues to attract clientele to its dinner tables.
The Avenue is a café-restaurant and at night is also a lounge for those who want to wind down from the hectic schedules of the day.
Situated in Windhoek’s Independence Avenue, at No. 416, in the central business district, The Avenue in the morning is the café for those in search of a wake-up coffee. For lunch and dinner The Avenue offers the full restaurant ambience with different food and drinks on the menu from lunch-time to midnight. In the late hours of the evening, The Avenue becomes the spot to relax and dance away the evening, with the guidance of the DJ who would mix up the old school and popular hits with other music genres.
The place is owned and operated by Ryan and Maritza Lehmann who serve great cuisine and go out of their way to ensure that patrons have a relaxed evening.
The Lehmann couple use fresh, natural, local ingredients in their menu, which features different flavours of steaks, salads, pizza, burgers, fish and some traditional Namibian meals. Ribs, chicken, and a vegetarian option are also on offer, plus different alcohol and non-alcoholic drinks.
“The Avenue was initiated by my wife and my dream to own a business. We love people and we love entertaining them. The venue just made this dream more alive and gave us the opportunity to explore the possibility of offering entertainment and food in one venue,” says Ryan.
He adds they have also initiated entertainment activities ranging from a Namibian DJ line to comedy shows every month-end. “We are trying to cater for all walks of life,” he says.
According to Ryan, they deliberately opened up a classy joint in town because they wanted to create a place for people to eat and enjoy themselves in a safe and uptown environment.
“We also wanted to create a space for working class people to go out and have good food, meet new friends and have good times,” he says.
The kitchen is open until 23:00 every Monday to Thursday, while on Fridays and Saturday the kitchen is open until 01:00 in the early morning. The lounge opens until 2am from Thursday to Saturday.
In terms of business, Ryan said their venue is different in a way that they try to offer good food at affordable prices, and create an environment for people to enjoy themselves.
So far their challenges are basically gaining the right staff, managing consistency and ensuring customer satisfaction.