Take a look inside The Mood Food, Birtley’s fabulous new restaurant
THE MOOD FOOD’S GRAND OPENING WILL OFFER THE PEOPLE OF BIRTLEY EVERYTHING FROM DELICIOUS STREET FOOD TO FANTASTIC COCKTAILS
IF you’re looking for a bite to eat in the
North East, this brand new restaurant could be just what you’re looking for.
If you head over to Birtley, you’ll find
The Mood Food, a brand new restaurant opening next month, nestled on Durham Road. The restaurant is owned by the same people who have made Casa Rosa such a success, and now they want to expand their menu and location to create a beautiful restaurant for their customers.
As the name suggests, The Mood Food wants to offer food that customers are just in the mood for with plenty of soul, including light afternoon bites, homemade cakes, and gourmet street food. From July 12, you’ll be able to visit the restaurant and celebrate this local business’ new venture, and enjoy their luxurious industrial décor, inspired by the space itself. They are also on the look out for staff to help run their restaurant.
Owner Ilona spotted the empty space across the road from her already successful business, Casa Rosa, which has won the British Takeaway Awards three times in a row. Situated in the old Co-op building, she realised that what was once a charity shop would be the perfect location for their new venture.
WHAT’S ON THE MENU
After the success of Casa Rosa, Ilona wanted to be able to expand their menu even further, but the limited space made this difficult. At The Mood Food, however, the large space means their possibilities are almost endless.
The Mood Food’s menu will be much more extensive, with plenty of options for everyone. One of the benefits of their new, larger space, is that it makes it easier for them to cater for allergies and dietary restrictions, as it enables them to make sure there is no cross contamination between dishes.
There will be homemade cakes available all day to enjoy with a cup of coffee, sweet treats, and a whole range of gourmet street food dishes. Diners can enjoy classic street food such as hot dogs, loaded fries, cauliflower buffalo wings, and pulled pork nachos.
There will also be vegan versions of them all,with dishes served in a tapas style, making them perfect for sharing. Ilona is also hoping to expand even further in the future to offer grazing boards and charcuterie boards.
There will also be a range of cocktails available to enjoy with your meal, as
Ilona wanted to fill a gap in the market for somewhere to come and enjoy a meal and a cocktail together.
BEAUTIFUL INTERIORS
The size of the space was what excited Ilona, and she was keen to make the most of the fantastic industrial style that already existed in the premises. Despite having previous experience in building projects,
The Mood Food is her biggest one yet, but after six months of hard work,
The Mood Food is ready for business.
The space boasts an impressive
150 square metres of space, with high ceilings, big exposed beams and bricks and rivets. The Mood Food has retained many of the property’s original features, and made them a seamless part of the decor.
The restaurant can sit up to 50 people, and has some fantastic industrial-style furniture. One of their more unique pieces are two swing seat tables, where diners can enjoy their meal from the comfort of a swing called the Mood swings.
Ilona said: “I’m quite passionate about old buildings, so I’m so pleased we ended up with something so beautiful.” To help keep the industrial theme going, they sourced some original gazebo metal roofing, and commissioned a local metalsmith to make a bespoke metal chandelier.
There are lots of art and pieces of decor made by local artists especially for the restaurant to help keep with the more luxurious industrial feel. Ilona feels very passionate about being a part of the local community after living there for 12 years, and with so many creative people around, she wanted to help incorporate that into their restaurant.
COMMUNITY SPIRIT
One of the reasons Ilona loves Birtley so much is the community spirit, and Casa Rosa has always been heavily involved in their local community. Despite their limited space,
Casa Rosa would regularly host seasonal events and workshops, either using their premises or at the local centre.
During the pandemic, they offered pizza kits to the local community, and managed to rack up a queue that stretched for over a
mile. Now that their new restaurant has more space, they want to continue to give back.
They’ve also previously ran children’s cooking workshops at both Casa Rosa and Lord Lawson of Beamish Academy, and now with The Mood Food’s amazing new large space, they’re excited to start running them once more, this time for both children and adults.
Ilona said: “Once we’ve found our feet, we want to do as many events and workshops for the community as we can. We’re already planning face painting for the children at Halloween, and meeting Santa over Christmas time. We also really want to do movie night for both children and adults, as well as host workshops for local artists.
“One of our neighbours was Thought Foundation, who unfortunately didn’t survive the pandemic, and they did amazing things for the Birtley residents. We want to continue on what they did, particularly for the creative community by hosting arts and crafts workshops.”
Ilona continued: “We had very warm welcome from other businesses, and we want to connect the food industry with art, and have that same kind of vibe that Thought Foundation did, with arts and crafts as part of it.”
GRAND OPENING
To say thank you to the Birtley resident’s ongoing support, The Mood Food will be hosting three opening events before their grand opening. They’re currently planning to host a launch day for children on July 3, one for the neighbourhood and local businesses on July 4, and one for their existing supporters on July 5. Their grand opening to the public will be on July 11, and they will be open from 9am - 11pm every day.
HIRING STAFF
To prepare for The Mood Food’s grand opening, the restaurant is currently hiring staff on both a full-time and part-time basis, with plenty of shifts available. To apply for one of these roles, send a message to
The Mood Food’s Facebook page
You can also visit The Mood Food’s website to find out more and keep an eye on their grand opening.