Next candidate for “UK’s largest restaurant” prepares to open its doors
Za Za Bazaar, which will boast nearly 1,000 covers, will oust the previous unofficial owner of the largest restaurant title, the 800-cover Cosmo in Croydon, when it opens on Bristol’s Harbourside on 1 December.
Like Cosmo, it is a pan-global buffet concept restaurant, with food from the Far East, South America, India, China, Japan and Europe, with interior décor to match.
Initially the restaurant announced 700 covers, the total seating capacity for the restaurant on the first floor, but the number was upgraded when management made the decision to serve food in the bar area as well, taking the numbers to 985. There will be additional seating outside.
Za Za Bazaar is spearheaded by head chef Nitin Bhatnagar, who will oversee a team of 35 specialist chefs as they cook fresh food in an open kitchen in front of customers.
After the Bristol launch, Bhatnagar wants to launch up to six Za Za Bazaar restaurants in the UK within the year. “Za Za Bazaar plans to roll out an additional five or six restaurants over the next 12 months in locations including UK university cities and towns, high footfall areas, town centres and potentially leisure parks,” a spokesman for the restaurant told BigHospitality.
Interior design
Mystery, the branding company hired by Za Za Bazaar to design the restaurant interior, said that coming up with a design for a multi-cultural concept presented a massive challenge.
"This project has been the equivalent - in terms of work load - of designing six restaurants," said Dan Einzig, Mystery's founder. "The biggest challenge turned out to be logistical - resourcing all the design detailing, finding the time to create a plethora of illuminated signage, lighting themes and large-scale street-art that populates the space - as our mission was to open by the beginning of December, which gave us the same amount of time as a normal size restaurant that we'd design."
He adds: "Despite the huge variety of food on offer at the Za Za Bazaar and what if effectively six different kitchens and menus, there is actually only one design concept for the whole venue. So although the scale of the space was challenging at first, we had a clearly defined vision to give the whole venture a consistent brand interior design concept."
Cosmo controversy
Cosmo attracted controversy this week when it emerged it had been charging parents £3 to seat babies at the table, even though they were breastfed and not consuming any food. Customers reported that staff said babies incurred the charge because their pushchairs took up room.
Earlier this month the restaurant was criticised by fire inspectors for failing to provide adequate fire escape routes and properly lit emergency exits. It faces prosecution and a fine if it fails to comply with the inspectors' enforcement notice.
