About
It was January 2015 when I took the plunge and signed the lease on what became phase 1 of the Medina story.
I decided that a little shop on Cambrian Place opposite Charlie’s was the place to start. A street that I had walked up so often throughout my life in my home town of Aberystwyth. The aim from the start was to provide good fresh food in a relaxed environment. The Ottolenghi cookbook completely inspired the style. Displaying the food for the customer means it has to be fresh.
The menu was and is very different to anything else in the area and to my delight it has proved popular to a very wide range of customer. Producing this much fresh food each day isn’t easy and I’ve been fortunate that since day one I have had my friend Cheuk at the helm in the kitchen, relentlessly maintaining the standards that we set out to achieve from the beginning.
We soon outgrew the first premises and so in June 2016 Cheuk and I together signed the lease for the ground floor of the old Talbot Hotel on Market Street, where we opened in August 2016 and now sometime on feel finally settled. Our great team has grown considerably and we are proud to now employ 38 people.
A customer said to me recently that we have made Aberystwyth a better place to live and if that is true to anyone then I couldn’t be happier.
I love being part of this community and if I can give something to it whilst putting a roof over my own family and providing employment for others in this area then I feel very lucky.