A Russian restaurant group has snapped up the lease of the vacant London site slated for Hakkasan’s second outpost in the Capital.
The Mayfair premises was purchased in 2006 by Tasameem, the Abu Dhabi property company that now owns Hakkasan, but never opened its doors.
Novikov Restaurant Group, headed by entrepreneur Arkady Novikov, plans to launch the 19,000 sq ft Berkley Street site early next year.
The restaurant - which last traded as Café Grand Prix - is yet to be named and will be Novikov Restaurant Group’s debut on the international restaurant scene as it looks to expand into global markets.
The site will be divided into two restaurants - one specialising in Asian seafood and the other offering Mediterranean food - and a Far Eastern themed bar.
All three concepts will operate under the Novikov Restaurant Group brand. Arkady Novikov owns 47 upmarket restaurants in and around Moscow, and employs 14,000 staff in total over a range of leisure-based businesses including fast food outlets.
Boris Kofman, a partner at international property company Virtus Real Estate, which advised Novikov Restaurant Group on the lease acquisition, said: “We secured the site in the face of stiff competition from a number of interested parties. This is a prime location in the heart of one of London’s most fashionable and sought-after areas, and the perfect site for the Novikov Restaurant Group’s first UK establishment.”