Our Story

Romani Cafe, as most of you know it, is a comforting, aromatic, and homely trattoria where spending endless hours inside is as easy as “one more coffee please!”, but its history runs much deeper than what meets the eye. When a loving Italian man married a fair Venezuelan woman they knew that it was always destined to be, and then decided to move over to Venezuela to settle down.

 

Skip a few years ahead to a household packed with seven children, each of whom would be crucial to developing the culture and personality that now defines Romani Cafe. The most curious (and debatably most-trouble-making) of the seven, Maria Billini, always showed an interest in cuisine and would do her best to learn and adapt to new styles and methods of helping out in the kitchen when cooking at home. She had a strong passion and was encouraged by those around her to follow her dreams and create her own cafe; so she did.

 

After moving to New Zealand Maria gave birth to her daughter Jessica in 2003 and had to put her dreams on pause while she figured out how to navigate being in a foreign land, and motherhood at the same time. In 2005 Maria found her partner Julia and has been in a relationship ever since. In November 2009 Romani Cafe finally took off and things were soon underway to becoming what they are now.

 

With the help of every single person who has walked in through the cafe doors, Romani Cafe has been able to blossom into the place that it is now. The cafe walls are covered in photos of customer encounters throughout the years, and looking at the growth within those same pictures just shows how much more Romani has developed.

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We constantly strive to achieve the best quality service in our food, and in how we present ourselves. Our food is a delicate mix of classic Italian dishes and flavours, mixed in with a little bit of Latin American spice and flare. We offer a wide variety of options for everybody - to make sure that Romani Cafe is available for everyone vegan and vegetarian options will also be made on request! All our food is made on site and handcrafted by our talented chef Maria.