New ‘cross-culture’ restaurant opening in Northampton where there’s something for everyone

A new restaurant offering foods from a range of cultures will open in Northampton town centre this weekend.

Pjayz Kitchen, in Derngate, was due to open earlier this year, but had to be put off mainly due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The ‘cross-culture’ restaurant, which will serve burgers, pizzas, French dishes and more, will welcome its first customers on Saturday (August 1).

Chef, Paulina Kopyciel, has 14 years of experience in catering and taught at culinary college in London for a number of years before moving to Northampton to make her dream of owning her own restaurant a reality.

But it has not been easy sailing for the owner as her plans had to be temporarily put on hold.

Paulina said: “It has been a really rocky road.

“When we came to view the property I just fell in love, so we gave up our lives in London to move to Northampton.

“It looks like a bistro from the outside and it has great space in the basement, so straight away I had ideas about what I could do with it.

“We were due to take over in February but then we ended up in the middle of a pandemic and everything was problematic.

“So now we’re just looking forward to finally opening as almost everything is sorted and ready.”

The restaurant will open at 8am everyday and will serve breakfasts and brunches, as well as evening meals.

Every two months the menu will be changed by Paulina to make sure she keeps up with her ‘cross-culture’ cuisine that allows everyone in a group to have exactly what they want.

She added: “As a chef going out to eat, I find that a lot of places are serving people really low quality food.

“I want to feed people good quality food at not very expensive prices and I want people to come in and have a good time.

“If a group of friends want to go out to eat it’s so hard to make a decision on where to go.

“I think it’s so good to be able to go to one place where everyone can find something they want.

“We’ll have burgers and pizza and we will also have traditional French cuisine that might appeal to people if they are going to the theatre.

“In winter we will have a lot of traditional pies and winter warmers.”

When the restaurant opens this weekend, there will be a discount in place for NHS workers and students.

Paulina has also installed TVs in the hope she can draw in customers who want to watch sport and enjoy a meal.

Once the eatery is up and running, Paulina is hoping to contact local colleges to give catering and hospitality students a place to complete work experience, as well as helping the community by putting free food outside in takeaway boxes every Thursday for homeless people to take ‘without feeling embarrassed’.

The grand opening will take place at 10am on Saturday and tables can be booked by calling 01604 565666.

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