Yuu Kitchen to open with former Icebar directors and Nobu chef
The 55-cover east London site opened for soft launch on 18 October and will open to the public this Wednesday 26 October. The average spend per head will be £15-25.
General manager is Stephen Lowe, also formerly of Icebar London, who will lead the site along with his friend and new head chef Jon de Villa, who has previously worked at Nobu, Nobu Berkeley, and Zafferano.
The other directors are Fred Olsson and Alex de Pommes, both previously of the Icebar, alongside Peter Jones, and Keira Page as bar manager.
Dishes will include bao buns filled with meat and fish options such as twice-cooked 7up-braised pork belly, and crispy soft shell crab; salmon jalapeno tostada; poke with tuna, salmon, whitefish and octopus; and barbecued peanut chicken.
Drinks will include wine, sparkling wine, and beer - all on tap. There will also be original and seasonal cocktails such as Asian Persuasion, with Japanese whiskey, plum wine, almond and lemon and orange juice; or the Yuu Collins, with Yuzushu sake, gin, lemon juice and soda.
Decor will aim to pay homage to pop art, in a modern Asian style, with Singapore-based Rockett Studio creating the look. Hong Kong artists Lunatic has also created some specially-commissioned digital artwork, which will bring influences from Manga, Asian fashion, and comic book culture. There is also an open kitchen, designed to allow customers to see the chefs cooking.
De Villa said: “Yuu Kitchen has been a dream of mine since travelling extensively over the last ten years from my native Australia, working in the Maldives and the UK. We were planning to open Yuu kitchen all the way back in the days of Sydney and now, having gained over 20 years’ experience are excited to launch this new venture. We want to bring the multicultural diversity of Asian food that we grew up with in Australia and bring it to London.”
De Pommes said: "A fantastic location, a fantastic design and more importantly a fantastic team. We are incredibly excited to open our new flagship restaurant with two key members at the helm of the ship."
