Fancy a kangaroo kebab with your cocktail?
NEW PRINCES AVENUE EATERY WILL SERVE INTERNATIONAL GRILLS AND QUIRKY DRINKS
A NEW restaurant serving kangaroo kebabs and quirky cocktails is set to open in Princes Avenue.
The Crooked Skewer and The Safehouse will open in the building that used to be home to Aunt Bibby’s Smokehouse and Street, which shut unexpectedly in August last year.
According to signs on the building, the lease was “forfeited”, resulting in the closure of the restaurant. However, new owners Jamie Del Grosso and Aminul Choudhury have been working to bring the venue back to life.
As well as work going on inside the premises, a tyre advertising The Crooked Skewer has appeared in the smoking area with the pair looking to build up anticipation ahead of the launch of the two businesses.
Mr Del Grosso has revealed The Crooked Skewer will serve international kebabs and grills with unusual meats such as alligator and kangaroo on the menu.
The Safehouse will be a prohibition-themed bar selling fancy cocktails in a bid to mirror the style and ambience of the Roaring Twenties.
Mr Del Grosso said: “We took it on just over a month ago and since then we’ve been stripping it out, cleaning it and getting it ready for its new purpose.
“With The Crooked Skewer we wanted to create something that was a little bit more casual and relaxed so that we could let people choose how they wanted to eat.
“We want to serve international kebabs because when people think of kebabs they think of donor meat, but we are doing everything from sirloin kebabs to even having alligator and kangaroo on the menu.
“The skewers will come through to the tables on a contraption where the meat will hang from it. The idea is to encourage people to share their orders between them. It will be premium quality.”
Mr Del Grosso and Mr Choudhury, who runs Yo! Tuk Tuk inside the Windmill Inn pub in Beverley, have been teasing elements of The Crooked Skewer on its Facebook page.
However, until now, no clues have been announced as to what customers can expect from The Safehouse.
Mr Del Grosso says the bar will serve cocktails and cask ales with mixologists hired to create sparkling and luxurious concoctions similar to those you would find at cocktail bar The Alchemist. Mr Del Grosso said: “We want to create an experience – something that people can get immersed in so they can get their food and then find out about the history of the building.
“The Safehouse will be the open area at the front and will be quite showy and theatrical, we will have people doing fire-breathing.”
During the past year, there has been a high turnover of restaurants and bars in Princes Avenue. Lucca, The Tiffin Box, Jumeriah, Zara’s and Bait have all shut in the past 12 months with four out of those five premises now filled by a different venture.
However, Mr Del Grosso believes the two businesses will offer customers an experience they will not find anywhere else in the city.
He said: “Princes Avenue has a lot to offer, but it has got the point where people are looking for something different.
“People won’t need to travel out of the city to the more high-end cocktail places like Leeds because we will be able to give them that experience in Hull.”
Mr Del Grosso aims to launch The Crooked Skewer and The Safehouse next month.