The 100-cover restaurant, which was opened in partnership with Michelin-starred Japanese chef Yoshihiro Murata,was shortly followed by the adjacent Chinese restaurant HKK in December – which Hakkasan insists is continuing to trade well.
A spokeseperson for the group said: “Hakkasan Group has ceased trading the Japanese restaurant concept, Chrysan, and is considering options for the site in Broadgate West.
“Following the success of HKK, which launched adjacent to Chrysan last December, it is evident that there is a strong demand for Chinese concepts both in the City as well as Greater London.
“Hakkasan Group will retain and employ as many of the Chrysan staff as possible at its London restaurants."
Chrysan's opening marked the first international partnership for Murata, chef-patron at Kyoto's Kikunoi restaurant, and was part of Hakkasan Group's plans to 'create a pioneering Japanese restaurant brand' in London.
'Crazy dream'
The venue was Hakkasan's second Japanese restaurant in the capital following its purchase of Sake No Hana last year. Chrysan featured a chef's table for eight, a private dining area and a separate bar named NeNe which seated up to 30, offering a menu of lighter dishes alongside drinks.
The Group’s then-chief executive Niall Howard (who stepped down from the position in February) initially explained why he took the ambitious step of opening two different restaurants at the same time to Restaurant magazine in this Business Profile interview.
“It was a crazy dream,” he said. “I was speaking with the landlord of Broadgate West, Peter Marano, who owns L’Anima, and he had a space he was trying to get us interested in. I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be amazing if we created a sort of gourmet centre of excellence in an unlikely place, like an oasis?’ It appealed to me because it was a bit wacky. The more wacky it got the more I liked it.”
Hakkasan currently operates 13 other sites globally, four of which are Michelin-starred, including Hakkasan New York. The group is launching a number of new sites this year in locations including Las Vegas and Los Angeles.
Mega city focus
With those forthcoming international openings, Hakkasan has been developing into one of the biggest high-end restaurant groups in the world. Yet it’s London where the real excitement is going to be, as Howard added: “We tend to focus on mega cities, ones where ‘global residents’ live.
Upon the opening of Chrysan, Howard also made positive comments about the apparent rise of the City of London for restaurateurs. “The centre of London is moving back to the City with the development of the East End,” he said. “We’re going to see the rise of the City.
"Restaurants and residents are moving in. Crossrail will make Liverpool Street a real epicentre. I see Mayfair saturating and becoming more and more difficult to do business in.”
Chrysan's website is now offline, it's Twitter account has been closed and a phone message from the restaurant simply says it has 'ceased operations'.
The Hakkasan business profile first appeared in the September 2012 issue of Restaurant magazine. Subscribe here.