End of an era: Whanganui’s Ambrosia Delicatessen & La Bolsa Negra Cafe to close after 16 years

Nevanah Turner is bidding farewell to her beloved cafe Ambrosia Delicatessen & La Bolsa Negra Cafe after nearly 16 years in business. Photo / Bevan Conley

After nearly 16 years of 5am wake-ups, Nevanah Turner, owner of Ambrosia Delicatessen & La Bolsa Negra Cafe, is preparing to shut her cafe’s doors for the final time.

Speaking from a cosy corner of the Ridgway St cafe, Turner remembers how when she first began cafes were growing in popularity in New Zealand.

In March 1997, Turner opened her first cafe under a different name - Amadeus Riverbank Cafe.

It was the first licensed cafe in Whanganui and had to compete with self-service tearooms.

“Customers were used to tearooms so they were always coming up and asking ’where’s the trays, where’s the plates?’”

“It was so different, it took them a long time to adjust.

“I said to my sister I’m going to put on my gravestone: ‘No, we serve you.’ "

Since then her cafe has grown and shifted premises, and Turner has added a delicatessen side to the business to cultivate her passion for sourcing fine ingredients from overseas.

It’s the same approach she uses for her coffee, which she’s always been proud of - she gets the beans from Havana in Wellington.

“Everyone down there makes good coffee - the Havana boys that owned it were one of the first people to import beans and roast them.”

Turner will retire after her final shift on July 19, but it’s been her love of cooking and baking that has kept her in the business for so long.

“I have always used real butter - never margarine, or substitutes.”

Her coffee walnut slice is a customer favourite and was printed in The Dominion Post’s cookbook.

There has been a loyal following of customers at the cafe, and ones who have been visiting since 1997.

“Some of them buy the same thing every day - you wonder why they don’t get bored.”

Over the years Ambrosia Delicatessen & La Bolsa Negra Cafe has also picked up The Best Regional Cafe and Customers Choice award.

She advises anyone wanting to enter the hospitality industry to look around themselves and do some thorough research.

“You’ve got to see what’s around and what the town needs.

“The economy was really bad when I started and people told me not to open a business, but I got in there and worked really hard, and it was successful.

“A lot of people have come and gone since I’ve been around.”

Turner says she will miss her customers and three staff members who are like family: “But I’m looking forward to sleeping in a bit.”

Eva de Jong is a reporter for the Whanganui Chronicle covering general news and human interest stories. She began as a reporter in 2023.