The first site, Issho, will be a Japanese site from former Zuma and Sexy Fish chef Ben Orpwood, set across 7,800 sq ft, with a dining space, rooftop bar and outdoor terrace. There will also be a semi-open kitchen offering guests the chance to watch the chefs at work. Orpwood brings high-end experience including time working at Asian restaurant Zuma across its Istanbul and Dubai sites, before spending five years cooking in Sydney, and returning to London in 2015 to work on the launch of Mayfair site Sexy Fish. He is planning to "put a Japanese and Pan-Asian twist on the best of Yorkshire produce", to create a "fresh and interesting" menu with "show-stopping sharing dishes".
The second site, East 59th – named after the address of D&D’s New York site Guastavino’s ‒ will be a 5,400 sq ft, New York-inspired all-day grill, bar and rooftop terrace overseen by executive chef Lee Murdoch. With views across the city, it will aim to offer a glamorous, social atmosphere.
The new venues will be the company’s third and fourth locations in Leeds, after 2013 openings Angelica and Crafthouse.
Des Gunewardena, chairman and chief executive of D&D London, said: “We are very excited to be opening two new restaurants in what is a spectacular rooftop space above the new Victoria Gate shopping centre. Crafthouse and Angelica, which we opened in 2013, have proved big successes for us and we enjoy very much being a part of the city’s growing restaurant scene.”
Created by Gunewardena and David Loewi (the other ‘D’ in the name), D&D London now operates 34 restaurants and a hotel, mainly across London but also in Paris, New York, and Tokyo.