‘Something different’ - Brand new Japanese-inspired sando deli and coffee bar opens in Westoe
A brand new Japanese-inspired eatery has opened its doors in Westoe.
A dual-split Japanese-inspired sando deli/coffee bar is bringing new flavours to South Shields as it opens to the public.
Craft & Crumb, on Ada Street, in Westoe, officially opened on Tuesday, July 21, after generating a lot of hype on social media.
The venue, which was a former car garage, has looked to combine a sit-in coffee shop/micro bar on its left-hand side with a takeaway sando deli on its right-hand side.
The deli serves a wide range of breakfast sandos between 8am and 11.30am before it switches to its lunchtime menu at 11.45am.
Sandwiches come in either Japanese milk bread or Italian focaccia - with the venue working for around the last six weeks to craft its food options.
The concept has been brought to life by Kenny Coates, the co-owner of Craft & Crumb and Ferry View, as he looked to bring something different South Shields.
‘I wanted to bring something a little bit different to South Shields’
Kenny has revealed to the Shields Gazette that he wants to create new experiences for the people of South Tyneside to encourage them to visit hospitality venues in the borough rather than travelling to other places across the North East.
He said: “Sandos are Japanese-inspired milk bread and we’ve also got Italian focaccia so we’re doing some completely different sandwiches to what you would see in South Shields.
“There isn’t many places doing this sort of thing, I think there is a few places in Newcastle but in terms of this area, there is nothing.
“I wanted to bring something a little bit different to South Shields because there is loads of people who are wanting nice things here.
“Westoe is full of lovely eateries and bars so we wanted to expand on that and keep people in the area rather than going off to places like Newcastle.
“I think there is a lot that local business owners can do to really expand the offering.
“I’m from South Shields and I live here so it is nice to see things that are different.”
Popular with the public
Kenny has also given an insight into how the new hospitality venue has been received by members of the public in its first days of trading.
He added: “It’s been incredible to be honest, a lot of people haven’t tasted these breads before and we were really busy yesterday [Tuesday, July 21].
“At the moment we’re open seven days a week but I think a few of the other venues around here aren’t open on a Monday or Tuesday so we might change that in the evenings going forward.
“A lot of our trade is social media driven so it is a different kind of clientele that we are appealing to but it really works for us.
“Ferry View has been off the charts so this will be a similar sort of concept to create things that people want to take a photograph of.
“But not only that, there is substance behind it in terms of a really good product.”
You can find out more about Craft & Crumb at: https://www.facebook.com/craftandcrumbne/.