Amit’s ready to serve whiskey at new venue

A soft opening will be held tonight for the new restaurant TruFusion.

Amit Rana with some of the bottles from the top shelf whiskey collection at his venue at The Edge Apartment Hotel, restaurant TruFusion.

BOXES were madly being unpacked, glasses getting washed and tradies on site doing the last of the fit-out as Amit Rana and his team prepared for a soft opening at TruFusion Indian Bar and Grill’s newest venue tonight.

The popular Rockhampton restaurant has made the move from its East St premises up to The Edge Apartment Hotel, in the former restaurant and hotel space.

Mr Rana took over the lease in August and since then extensive work has been done behind the scenes.

“Paint, lights, exhausts, equipment, aircon, compliance, upgraded sound system, the list goes on,” he said.

It was a lot more work than they expected as the premises had fallen into disrepair after it had been abandoned for two years.

“I thought it would be easy, clear out the place, tidy it up and get going but because the place was closed for so long, the equipment didn’t function,” Mr Rana said.

Due to COVID, parcels for equipment also took a lot longer, creating more delays.

Tradies have also been in high demand and Mr Rana said they had to wait a month for some.

One of the biggest jobs they did was removed the hedges from the front as they blocked the riverfront views.

“Now people can sit out, have their meal or their drinks and have a look at the river,” Mr Rana said.

What he is the proudest of, is his whiskey and alcohol collection.

An avid whiskey lover, Mr Rana has been to some of the finest places in Brisbane and thinks he may have the biggest whiskey collection in the region.

The venue will open fully to the public on Friday and will be serving dinners only while it gets the swing of things.

A cafe style breakfast will be launched in the next couple of weeks and Mr Rana has been able to hire four more staff to help.

It is expected more staff will be employed as they open fully.

Just a block down the road, major works are also going on at Restaurant 98.

The Kortes group bought the iconic riverfront venue last month and are carrying out some significant renovations.

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