Machiya – named for a style of wooden Japanese townhouse – will launch two doors down from Kanada-Ya’s Piccadilly Circus site in mid-April.
It is the brainchild of Tony Lam and Aaron Burgess-Smith, who brought Kanada-Ya to London in 2014.
“When this site came up we thought we would try something a bit different,” Lam told BigHospitality.
“We have always thought that London is missing out on traditional, affordable Japanese home cooking that you can eat every day, and that doesn’t cost £50-£60 a head.”
Authentic menu
Machiya’s menu will focus on three elements, including gyudon, thinly-sliced marinated beef served with Japanese rice that Lam says is something ‘everyone in Japan will eat once a week’.
There will also be thick deep-fried pork cutlets with tonkatsu sauce, rice and cabbage; and a ‘next level’ Japanese curry that Lam hopes will give London’s Japanese chain restaurants a run for their money.
Desserts will include matcha roll cake, while a 20-cover downstairs bar will serve six house cocktails with a ‘Japanese twist’.
The 23-cover restaurant will be priced slightly higher than Kanada-Ya, at around £16-£25 a head including drinks, and offer full table service.
Future expansion
Lam and Burgess-Smith are keen to roll-out Machiya to the City and across London if it is successful.
There are also plans to expand the Kanada-Ya ramen brand in the UK following the launch of a second site in Hong Kong later this year.
“We are still looking for a third Kanada-Ya site in London so I think we will definitely open one more, if not two, and keep expanding in London and beyond,” says Lam.
Machiya will open on Panton Street on 18 April.