Sisters doing it for themselves with new bistro

A culinary sisters act has proved an immediate hit at a new eatery in Hawick.
Katarzyna and Joanna Witczak of Howegate BistroKatarzyna and Joanna Witczak of Howegate Bistro
Katarzyna and Joanna Witczak of Howegate Bistro

Sisters Katarzyna and Joanna Witczak, who both live in Hawick, this week opened up the Howegate Cafe and Bistro at 4 Howegate.

The ladies have worked in the restaurant trade for a number of years but this is their first joint venture together.

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They have spent several thousand pounds to rebrand the former West End Cafe into their own image.

Joanna, 27, said: “We have both worked in restaurants before and we decided that we wanted to do something for ourselves, rather than someone else.

“My sister does the kitchen and I work in the restaurant and it works very well. There’s just the two of us now but we’re planning to employ some folk next week.

“It’s been quite good since we opened on Tuesday and it’s been busy. We were quite surprised how quick it picked up. We are open from 9am to 4pm each day at the moment but we hope to be open in the evenings for Christmas.

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“We can only host 22 people inside at the minute and the tables are a metre apart from each other, plus we ask people coming to do the self-checking so we get them to write their names and their phone numbers and we’ve the sanitizer next to the doors. We also have three tables outside if someone doesn’t fancy wearing a mask.

“I’m confident for the future because people around here are quite responsible that way, they are not trying to come in without masks and we are quite strict with it and I’m wearing a mask when I’m serving all the time.

“It’s a new adventure and I’m happy that it’s got really good support from the local people and tourists as well. We thought because of what is going on it was going to take a long time to pick up, but no, it’s been quite surprising.”

The venue serves a range of breakfasts, including Scottish breakfast, scrambled eggs, salads and toast and lunches which include chilli chicken, beef and ale pie, lasagne and gammon steaks.

Joanna added: “It’s a new adventure and I’m happy that it’s had such great support from the local people.”

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