Revealed: Popular restaurant in Tipperary reopens under brand new name and with new owners

Many people will remember the former Kiely's Bar & Lounge on the Main Street in Tipperary Town, and the loss that the premises was to the area when it closed.

Well there is new life in that premises now as the Aydi family; Ahmed, Moez and Natasha are now operating a Café and Bistro in the premises.

I spoke to the youngest member of the team, Ahmed, who is currently running the place and he says that they are really delighted to have a family business in the town.

"We wanted to do something together and we saw a gap in the market. My Dad has been looking for a premises for the last two or three years, that was something of his own in Tipp Town.

"He found the former Kiely's premises and it was ideal as there is so much history attached to it, and it worked out perfect for us.

"We wanted to provide a food service for the people of Tipp town that would cater for the needs of the people so we opened the N23 Café & Bistro.

"We provide Breakfast and Lunch every day along with late night meals as required. We do parties and special events and for example we have an event for Valentines Day and also for the week of the musical Rock of Ages. We try to provide top quality meals and food for the people of the town and area," said Ahmed.

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I asked Ahmed what the response had been like since they opened and what kind of support had they received.

"We opened the first week in September and we have had such a great response.

"The people of the town have really got behind us and we are very thankful for that and so grateful for everyone that has come in and supported us over that period. It is great to see that our town can come together as a community and support a local business.

"There are a lot of challenges in running a business but we are really happy with the support that we have received to date. There are 10 staff employed in the business and they are all from the locality.

"With every menu that we make, we try to ensure that we are not over or under pricing to ensure that we are at the industry level. We welcome plans to cut the VAT rate to 9% for food services as this would really help us as a business."

I went on to ask Ahmed about their menu and if they catered for everyone.

"We have a very extensive menu and a large selection of coffees, milk shakes, smoothies. We have acai bowls, which we found are a really big thing for customers, and we have our home made bakery, where everything is made fresh every morning.

"We have an extensive breakfast menu and lunch menu and also light lunches along with evening meals. We have a really nice kitchen and everything is provided fresh from the kitchen to the table.

"We do like to have our cakes nice and filling and you will certainly be very full after one of our sumptuous cakes. We had an amazing period in the run up to Christmas and we had so much support.

"Christmas Eve was remarkable for us. We never experienced such a crazy but busy day, and it was so great to see everyone and it was really heartwarming."

Ahmed is in college in UCD doing English and Sociology, so he is combining his studies with running the business.

"I am very lucky to have my Mam with me, so we work hand in hand in managing the business. We are located on 23 Main Street, just up from the traffic lights, and we would love to see everyone.

"We are doing a Valentines Night Special on Friday February 14th and we are taking bookings at 062-85108."

Congratulations to the Aydi family on their new business and we wish them the very best of luck into the future.