Arepa 2Go opens its first permanent restaurant in Southsea, offering authentic Venezuelan food

The team at Arepa 2Go are some of the longest-standing food vendors at the Love Southsea market and they have managed to successfully open their very first site in Victoria Road, Southsea. The business has gained a loyal following by working the market and the family has tirelessly worked in their pursuit of opening up a restaurant.

The family moved to Southsea in 2012 from Caracas, Venezuela, due to social and political crisis and brothers, Alejandro and Dani De Carlo work in the kitchen and Alejandro’s wife Meriana Crespo does the marketing.

Their mother is behind all of the traditional recipes, which have been passed down through generations and make the restaurant even more family orientated.

Alejandro said: ‘To be honest, it is like a dream come true for us because we started at the Love Southsea market in 2013 and we always wanted a location here in Southsea so we have been looking at locations since 2018.

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‘I think the most important thing is that came to show people our passion for food and music – I think we wanted to replicate where we are from to show people our Venezuelan culture. It has been great.

‘It is food that is inspired by places that we all grew up in.’

The restaurant opened last month and they have had a brilliant response from the local community and their pre-existing customers who have been supporting them since they established themselves.

They offer traditional Venezuelan food including delicious empanadas, tequeños and gluten free arepas, which have a variety of fillings to choose from.

Meriana said: ‘We’ve been working hard with the help of friends and local artists to bring out a concept that represents our vibe and culture.’

Alejandro added: ‘It has been great, more than we expected, people really like that we are here in Southsea. I think Southsea has supported us since the very beginning. There are people in the community that have really supported us. I think although the city is a small one, people are well travelled and are more open-minded.’