So an Austrian and a Kiwi find themselves in a bright green caravan on Oakura Beach, furiously rolling and toasting burritos all summer long, when only 6 months before they were teachers whose favourite food was Indonesian. How on earth did this happen….?

It started with a bad burrito, in fact a shocking burrito, devoid of all taste and ‘zing’. On a trip to Australia, a friend of ours mentioned that the thing to eat in his town was ‘ the legendary fish burrito from %$#@* Cantina’ We ordered with excitement, we sat down and waited with anticipation, the food was delivered with a flourish, we soon left with bewildered looks and still empty stomachs. How would we describe the ‘legendary’ fish burrito in 5 words? Bland, soggy, pale, disappointing and rubbish!

This place was spoken about in excited tones, every visitor to the popular beachside town had to go there, it was doing a roaring trade so the question was ‘why’?

The food was nothing short of average, so it had to be the location, a stones throw from the Pacific Ocean.

We thought ‘we live by a cool beach, we love to cook,
we like to smile and chat, we could do a better job’

So we did (or more accurately we told ourselves we should at least try to)

A caravan was sent away to be modified, name chosen, logos drawn, colours selected, suppliers contacted, council approval granted.

Half way…

After trialling our marinades, combinations and seasonings on our ever helpful friends we thought we were ready. You’re never ready!

On the day we finally opened, after the shortest advertising campaign in Mexican food history, we opened the hatch expecting to see the sea and the flax bushes. What we saw was in fact a queue, all waiting to see what we were about, this is real, we wish we could have seen our faces.

We seemed to pass the test as we have developed a loyal local following and when we said we would close for the winter the response was “Nooooo” So we didn’t, thanks to the kindness of the local BP owner we now have winter residency far away from the rain and wind, safely undercover directly on Surf Highway 45.

That was 1 years work condensed into 375 words.