New Clinker cafe couple start from scratch

After being closed for two years, the Clinker Cafe in St Arnaud, near Nelson is reopening with new lease-holders.

Angelina and Sebastian Stasiak moved up from Christchurch to create a new healthy vibe for the cafe that originally opened in 2013.

‘‘My goal it is to have healthy options, to have nice food and to have it made fresh and be healthy.

‘‘Don’t put too much starch, don’t put too many carbohydrates,’’ Sebastian said.

Chef Sebastian said every dish on the menu is going to be made from scratch.

‘‘Everything that is coming into the kitchen is just raw produce. I’m making my sausages, I’m making my bacon, I’m making my sauces, I’m making my pastas,’’ he said.

‘‘Everything will be made in here, I will be making the bread, it’s very easy and that’s what people should expect by going to the restaurant or cafe it’s not like what you get from the supermarket.’’

The couple aim to make the cafe a destination tourists alike.

‘‘We’re hoping to pick up the ski folk, once the ski field is open hopefully they’ll pop into to town to grab a feed before they head home, or a hot chocolate or something.

‘‘We’re also hoping it’s a place the locals can come and relax,’’ Angelina said.

Cafe owners, Pat and Wendy Gelling, are looking forward to the cafe reopening.

‘‘We’re really excited, it’s new people coming into the village, it’s new ideas and that’s what the vil- for locals and lage needs.

‘‘There’s a lot of support, people have just been waiting for the cafe to reopen. We get asked constantly about it,’’ Pat said.

The cafe will open from 8.30am4pm in the beginning with the hope of moving towards dinner later.

‘‘We’re open 12 months of the year, seven days a week – in the beginning just open for breakfast and lunches, we’ll probably look at Friday/Saturday nights for dinners in the near future,’’ Angelina said.

The Clinker Cafe opens May 4. The Refinery ArtSpace is buzzing with people lined up to see the very first Fringe show of 2016.

Real-life couple, Laura Irish and Charles Anderson, play Bonnie and Clyde in Irish’s original theatre piece. The pair are complimented by musician and actor, Isaac Thomas, who provides an intuitive self-composed score of music and plays the villainous Henry Methvin.

The performance space is anchored in the 1930s by a barrage of old metal containers and automotive bits and bobs. A cluster of suitcases form the set and the actors cleverly rearrange these to create furniture and