Wisteria Kitchen brings vibrant menu and decor to East Boldon

With its trailing faux wisteria and purple hues, Wisteria Kitchen has made for a striking addition to East Boldon.

Aimed at being an all-day venue, offering everything from coffees to go and take out cakes to breakfasts, boozy brunches and evening meals, the new restaurant has opened in the former No 4 Bistro in St Bedes, which closed last year.

Brought to the village by husband-and-wife team, Tor Imrie-Bell and Simon Imrie-Bell, the menu, devised by head chef, Simon Genduso, is inspired by their passion for foods from around the world, featuring options such as Bunny Chow from South Africa, Japanese match tiramisu, Lebanese hummus bowls, Malaysian king prawn laksa, Korean mac 'n' cheese and more.

Tor said: "We live on this street and already know about all the great businesses here, it's a great community.

"But we wanted to open something where you could go for a coffee where you could take the kids and felt there was gap for something in the community that offers a little bit of everything.

"The kitchen concept, which offers a bit of everything, is common in London where we've spent a lot of time, so we decided to bring that concept up here."

Tor added: “Our head chef Simon has joined us from the magnificent country mansion hotel, Easthampstead Park, in Berkshire.

"He brings a wealth of experience, most recently having worked with Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck team to develop a training program to develop the skills of young chefs."

The kitchen also plans to work with colleges moving forward, to recruit and train aspiring young chefs.

Speaking about the inspiration behind the name, Tor said: "Wisteria is a flower of hope and happiness and people seem to love the theme."

Wisteria Kitchen, which has created 25 new jobs, had its opening weekend last weekend and Tor says they've had a warm welcome.

"We've been doing some really fun things with the community, like leaving treat cards around the village and delivering boxes of cakes to introduce ourselves and we've had great local support."

The new venture also has an extensive drinks offering, with cocktails such as Venetian peach bellini, Caribbean colada, a range of wines and soft drinks.

Sweet tooths are also set to enjoy the creation station, where you can choose a base of either pizza-size loaded pancakes, filled French toast or stacked croffle (a croissant/waffle) and then choose your toppings, which range from NYC Oreo brownie s'mores to English Eton roulade.

*Wisteria Kitchen is available for take away from 7am during the week, and for sit-in 9am-6pm everyday, offering the daytime menu. Its evening menu launches on 30th November and will be available 6pm - 11pm Thursday - Sunday.