What started as a group of friends gathering around a fire, smoking meat and sharing food has grown into Vasaqa Fiji – Home of Nadi’s Smoked Meats, which is celebrating its fourth year with the launch of a new menu ahead of the festive season.
The menu includes Sticky Mango Pork Ribs, 12-Hour Smoked Brisket, Pineapple Coffee Beef Short Ribs, Beer Can Chicken, Slow Braised Lamb and Smoked Pork and Krackling.
The three friends behind the business came from different backgrounds but shared a passion for food, trying something different and creating their own dining experience.
Their casual Sunday gatherings around a smoker eventually developed into a business idea and later a small takeaway outlet in Namaka.
Vasaqa Fiji General Manager Benjamin Hussain says none of them initially planned to build a restaurant business.
Hussain says they were simply friends who loved food, cooking and getting together around a fire.
He says what they started for fun slowly became something other people wanted to experience, and that was when they realised it could become something bigger.
From its beginnings in Namaka, Vasaqa expanded from a takeaway operation into an off-site catering business before establishing its flagship smokehouse in Wailoaloa, Nadi.
The restaurant now serves locals and tourists with its signature slow-cooked and smoked meats, dishes inspired by island flavours and a relaxed dining environment.
Hussain says their journey has been about learning, adapting and staying true to what originally brought the friends together.
He says their previous experience catering for movie productions, together with years of trial and error in the service and food industry, gave them a clear idea of what they wanted Vasaqa to offer.
Hussain says the focus was on good food, big flavours, a relaxed environment and creating a place where people could come together.
Four years later, he says that original idea continues to shape the business.
To mark its fourth anniversary, Vasaqa has launched a new menu combining its signature smokehouse techniques with Fijian ingredients and global flavour influences.
