A restaurant serving takeaway Mexican food and freshly-made smoothies has opened on Stokes Croft.
El Jefe Jose Cubanos launched last week on the corner of Stokes Croft and Nine Tree Hill, replacing former Polish grocery store Rodak.
Food on offer includes empanadas, toasted ciabattas, granola fruit bowls and cakes, all served from a hatch.
To wash it down there's an extensive range of drinks to choose from including iced coffee and smoothies and juices, all made to order on site, with customers also able to build their own smoothie using ingredients of their choice.
The business is headed up by Joe Kennard, who has run more than 20 restaurants all over the world in countries including India, Sri Lanka, Bali and Australia.
"I'm absolutely over the moon to finally be up and running in Stokes Croft," said Joe, 47, who grew up in Redland before moving to Australia at the age of 18.
"I've opened restaurants all over the world and it's always a difficult process, but opening one in these almost apocalyptic times has definitely been the most challenging test yet.
"Our ethos is serving high quality food that people can eat on the go, all at reasonable prices.
"It's taken a lot of hard work finally getting to the stage we're now at but the response has been amazing so far and we're getting busier each day."
Before moving back to Bristol a year and a half ago, Joe ran a restaurant of the same name in Bali, which built up a "cult following," he said.
The cafe's flagship item will be the 'Cubano', a filling sandwich priced at £7.50 which will be added to the menu next week.
Most of the food served at El Jefe Jose's is made on site by Joe, a trained chef, with much of the produce sourced from traders on Stokes Croft and Gloucester Road.
Even after lockdown El Jefe Jose will be takeaway only with no seating inside the premises.
"The site we're in feels like the gateway to Stokes Croft and we couldn't be happier with it," added Joe. "We've added a splash of colour to the road in place of a shop that has been closed for some years.
"We can't wait to meet more customers over the coming months, from a safe distance away of course. Everyone has been really respectful of social distancing measures so far which is great."
El Jefe Jose is located at 121 Stokes Croft, Bristol, BS1 3RW.
