Get ready to taste something new at Rosa’s Cantina. The restaurant on Front Street has been cooking up fresh ideas to create a buzz.

Both the food menu and the drinks’ selection are having a make over in time for the summer, and will boast healthier choices alongside popular favourites.

Hilary Roach, who has spent many years living and studying overseas, is the agent of change at the restaurant, which has been in business for more than a quarter of a century.

Her parents originally ran the restaurant, which is above Docksider. It is now a ‘mother-and-daughter’ enterprise run by Ms Roach and her mother Pamela Quarterly.

Ms Roach admits things have been hard for the past years, in Bermuda and elsewhere, because of the economic climate. But she feels the time is right to move ahead with a new look menu and aesthetic at Rosa’s Cantina.

“It’s been a tough few years. Everyone has felt the recession and the drop in the sales,” she said.

“With the America’s Cup announcement and other things people are in a better place than before. We have to be constantly changing and we want people to come back and try out the new Rosa’s.

“We would love to do some renovations, but first and foremost in a restaurant it is about the food and drinks that you provide.”

Ms Roach studied psychology at Tulane University in New Orleans, and spent six years in the vibrant southern US city. This is where she experienced the vibe, ambience and excitement of a city famed for its food, drinks and hospitality. It has inspired her to bring new verve and variety to Rosa’s. Changes will not be restricted to the food on the menu, the food will be served on new dishes, and the drinks in some new Rosa’s-branded glasses. On the drinks side, Ms Roach said the restaurant is focusing on drinks that come ‘on the rocks’, and was moving away from artificial flavoured drinks to introduce ‘fruit-infused’ cocktails.

“We will have drinks that are fresh and fun,” she explained. For instance, agave nectar will be an ingredient in the margaritas.

Cold cocktails will be served it mason jars with handles “so you don’t freeze your hands off”. There will also be a new wine selection, including some from Chile.

Regarding the food menu, Ms Roach said: “We are moving to more fun dishes.”

From the ever popular Tex-Mex to being able to pick and chose a variety of taco fillings rather than have to stick to one selection, things will be livelier when the new menu is introduced next month.

Some of the items being added are queso blanco dip, jerk chicken nachos, a veggie burrito called The Marley Burrito, and butter marsala wings.

Fancy a steak? Rosa’s will have a choice, and there will also be locally ground beef hamburgers, complimented by house baked buns and a specially made Chiko’s spice blend from Bermuda chef Michiko Campbell.

Healthier choices are also part of the new look menu, and Ms Roach is particularly keen to add dishes suitable for people who have food allergies. The restaurant already offers some gluten-free options.

“For anyone with food issues it can be hard [eating out]. We want to make it less hard for those people by giving them choices.”

Ms Roach added: “I have been pushing for a change. My dad said if you are not moving forward you are going backwards.”

She feels there are many young Bermudians who have lived and studied abroad and want to introduce the Island to some of the things they’ve seen work overseas.

Ms Roach, who also has a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Edinburgh, explained: “Many of my generation left the Island and have now come back and want to have the things we saw when we were abroad. We want to bring these things to the people here.”

Ms Roach and her mother hope to entice David Roach, Ms Roach’s brother, to come back to Bermuda. He is a chef working in Denver.

Customers will be able to try Rosa’s new menu and drinks selection when they are unveiled next month.

“We are trying to stay ahead of the curve,” said Ms Roach. “We will do people’s old favourites, but we also want them to come and try out the new.”