Sandra Bernal was born in Venezuela but three years ago she moved to Guyana and decided to call it home after falling in love with the culture of its people, the pristine beauty of the capital city and the excitement of its nightlife.
This sparked an idea in the mind of the 37-year-old engineer and she teamed up with 39-year-old Robbie Singh of Pulse Entertainment – an entrepreneur whose name is synonymous with Guyana’s party scene – to create the ‘Tribe Gastronomic Lounge’.
Tribe Gastronomic Lounge owners, Robbie Singh and Sandra Bernal (Photo: News Room/ March 24, 2022)
It is a new hangout spot located on Church Street obliquely opposite the St. George’s Cathedral that was officially launched on Thursday evening.
“I started to explore the country and I fell in love with it. I think Guyana is a very unique country; there is no other place like Guyana in the world and I was so excited about creating my own project here and that is essentially how it started,” Bernal told the News Room on Thursday during a soft launch of the new hang out spot.
“We both wanted a place where we can actually offer something completely different to the market in terms of food and drinks and entertainment.
“We came up with the idea of uniting the people and this is why the name of the place is called Tribe…so no matter where you are from, you always have a place where you can come, have nice drinks, nice food and be with your tribe,” she said.
And for Robbie, the name was chosen so that varying party concepts could be created, putting a new spin on what Guyanese are used to.
“We want different feels and moods and we wanted the name to be some that you can flip that and it still promotes unity, one people together,” he told the News Room.
Like the name Tribe, much thought was put into the building design so that the two align, giving patrons a hangout spot that is spacious and offers a new vibe to those who crave the nightlife.
The location was also chosen as Tribe’s unique and modern architecture and open concept paired well with the Gothic Revival building, Bernal said.
“I fell in love with the Cathedral because it is so unique and has so much history and we wanted to showcase that while also being in the heart of the city so it was the perfect spot for Tribe,” Bernal shared.
Still relatively new, Tribe has gotten rave reviews with many dubbing it the hottest new spot.
The opening ceremony was attended by First Lady Mrs Arya Ali, the Minister of Tourism, Industry, and Commerce Oneidge Walrond, and the Minister within the Ministry of Housing and Water, Susan Rodgries among other top government officials who were treated to a tiki fire dancer perched atop the roof.
The bar will be officially opened to the public on Friday and the Tribe owners have promised to bring a new experience to those looking for traditional Caribbean cuisine with a twist.
