Homebush’s Cafe Tabouli will now serve cocktails in wake of Kitchen Nightmare’s feud with Colin Fassnidge

The owner of Cafe Tabouli says celeb chef Colin Fassnidge’s Channel 7 reality show lost her business. Now she’s named a drink after him on her new cocktail menu.

Virginia Cheong – the owner of Homebush’s Cafe Tabouli, right, has named one of her new cocktails "The Colin" after panning celebrity chef Colin Fassnidge's Kitchen Nightmares makeover. Pictures: News Corp

The owner of a Sydney cafe that claims to have lost business because of a disastrous transformation on Channel 7’s Kitchen Nightmare is now serving up cocktails.

Virginia Cheong is the owner of Homebush’s Cafe Tabouli – formerly Cafe de Vie – which The Daily Telegraph exclusively revealed had claimed to be losing thousands in business since they appeared on an episode of the Colin Fassnidge hosted, restaurant makeover show.

Cheong said Lebanese customers thought the decision to turn her assorted menu into Lebanese cuisine was as “a joke”, especially because she is Chinese and has no experience in a Lebanese kitchen.

She said moving the coffee machine out of sight also saw a downturn in business.

Since the story broke, Cheong said she’s been inundated with support from her community with consulting chefs and hospitality professionals offering to help turn her business around.

Cafe owner Virginia Cheong, from Cafe Tabouli, with influencer and mixologist Mike Teasdale making new cocktails after her venue went on Kitchen Nightmares and reportedly lost business. Picture: Jeremy Piper

Mixologist and food influencer Mick Teasdale teamed up with local suppliers Offshore Vodka to create a small cocktail menu for Cafe Tabouli.

Cheekily, one of the cocktails has been named “The Colin” after the Irish celebrity chef.

The Colin cocktail (right) is named after the Irish celebrity chef. Picture: Jeremy Piper

Fassnidge has refuted Cheong’s claims and said the business owner, who took over the struggling cafe when her cousin got sick, needed to “take ownership” of her restaurant woes. “We filmed the show in May, so it has taken her until November to realise that the coffee machine, she could move it back,” he said.

“She can do whatever she wants, it is her joint. She could have changed the name back and moved the coffee machine, it doesn’t take six months to work that out.”

Cheong said while she’s made the decision to stick with the Lebanese menu, she’s hurt by Fassnidge’s response.

“I’m baffled. One minute he’s saying follow my advice and your business will turn around. Next he’s saying, don’t listen to me. He’s words are very conflicting,” she said.

Cafe Tabouli in Homebush. Kitchen Nightmares renamed it and moved away from selling coffees to become a Lebanese restaurant. Picture: Richard Dobson

Cheong with Colin Fassnidge on Kitchen Nightmares. Picture: Nigel Wright

Teasdale said the cocktail menu was his way of “rallying around Virginia and putting a positive lighthearted spin on a situation that can sometimes attract trolling, negativity and impact someone’s mental health”.

To ring in the new cocktail menu, Cheong is also hosting a relaunch party, complete with live music, this coming weekend as a “reset”.

Meanwhile, another cafe that appeared on the show, has had to close its doors after filming. The owners of Araucaria restaurant in Winmalee in the NSW Blue Mountains announced hey would no longer be running the bistro due to “financial hardship”.

Mr Davies told news.com.au that he didn’t blame the show for the closure, but also hit out at some of the program’s advice, claiming it “absolutely failed to deliver” improvements.