Moon on the Rise
Wagamama, Hakkasan, Busaba Eathai – the man who has revolutionised Asian dining in the UK tells us about his new project
Interview | Fearguso’Sullivan
As London’s Hakkasan is yet again rated as one of the world’s best restaurants, its creator, Alan Yau, is getting ready to take his chic Chinese noodle bar nationwide. will cha cha moon be his next big hit chain?
IS ALAN YAU TRYING TO REVIVE THE WORLD’S RESTAURANT INDUSTRY SINGLE-HANDED? The Anglo- Chinese food entrepreneur is planning an expansion that might just make his projects to date (Wagamama, Hakkasan, Yauatcha, Busaba Eathai… the list goes on) look like cake stalls at a village fête. Expansion at such shaky times is something that even hitherto risk-taking restaurateurs are steering clear of, but Yau, 46, seems blithely confident that his businesses will win out when we meet up for this interview at Princi, his Soho bakery.
“The areas we’re expanding into are mainly casual dining and fast food, where the market grows even in a recession,” he says matter-offactly, “so even if other sectors don’t perform so well, we still should.”
Let’s take a look at Yau’s plans. For starters, there’s his new budget Chinese noodle chain Cha Cha Moon, expanding from two central London sites to four in the next couple of months before launching nationally. Then there’s the excellent Italian bakery Princi, imported by Yau from Milan, which is currently seeking out 20 London satellites for its Soho headquarters.
Further upmarket, Yau is rolling out clones of Hakkasan and Yauatcha across Asia and North America (Hakkasan Miami opened last month) and opening Hakka Berkeley, a humungous 20,000 square foot London restaurant serving Beijing-style cooking in the next 12 months. Oh, and I mustn’t forget the as-yet-mysterious Asian fast-food chain that Yau is currently planning to open across China.
For a figure hoping for little short of world domination, Yau himself is surprisingly understated. He seems slightly shy, in smart but unobtrusive clothes, toying with but never drinking from a cup of milky tea as he speaks. He’s also refreshingly short on spin. When I ask him about the concept behind Cha Cha Moon, he replies simply: “Er, well, it’s a Chinese noodle bar.” So what’s makes it different from what’s already out there? “It isn’t necessarily different, it’s just better.” Oh, right. He also admits to finding “hot” restaurants extremely tiring to eat in. When I point out that many of Yau’s restaurants are famously “hot” he come straight back: “Exactly – that’s why I don’t eat there!”
It’s the business side of restaurants that really seems to inspire him. When I ask questions about cooking Yau instinctively wanders back to discussing corporate culture and branding, becoming more animated and gesturing with his hands. He likens his company to an airline, then debates whether Honda or BMW would be a better business model. “I’d be perfectly happy running a business that doesn’t involve food,” he admits. “In fact, my fast food project will probably be my last new food business.”
But his commercial focus shouldn’t overshadow just how exceedingly good and influential his restaurants are. Wagamama, the sleek Japanese canteen which Yau lost to a forced takeover in 1998, caused queues of customers to gridlock pavements outside, lured in by simple noodle dishes that just happened to beat anything else on the market.
Exquisite Hakkasan arguably introduced Chinese fine dining to this country, winning a Michelin star in 2003 and a placement on Restaurant magazine’s S. Pellegrino 50 Best Restaurants List since 2004 (its highest rating was 14th, and this year is one of only four British restaurants), interpreting classic Chinese cooking with favoured Western haute cuisine ingredients like lobster, poussin and wine in dishes that proved both opulent and delicately poised. Bustling subterranean Yauatcha, meanwhile, created the current vogue for dim sum.
But Yau’s restaurants have never been just about food – his superb eye for design has also boosted their popularity, making them some of the most theatrical, charismatic eating places Britain has to offer. Hakkasan’s delicate woodwork screens, slate-lined walls and low smoochy lighting have since been imitated the world over by countless fusion restaurants. When it opened in 2001, its mix of exquisite cooking (at around £65 a head) and moody elegance instantly drew a stylish crowd of monied regulars.
The fact that this slinky little number came hidden up a dingy alley off Tottenham Court Road only served to make Hakkasan even more popular with an in-crowd left jaded by the creamy plushness of West London. Yauatcha also proved a fashionista favourite. While its basement site might have felt pokey, ingenious design transformed it into something between an unusually elegant gothic catacomb and a Bond villain’s lair.
This marriage of upscale glamour and authentic, refined Chinese cuisine marked Yau out early as a high-concept trailblazer. Even his first project, a Peterborough takeaway he started “as a hobby” while working as an engineering trainee, employed prestigious London interiors architects, graphic designers and a partially open kitchen. In typical Yau style, it made back its investment in just six months. But while their decor and food are both exemplary, exactly how authentic is his take on Asian cuisines?
“Well, the cooking is slightly different from classical Cantonese food, because that’s what our customers like. Chinese customers prefer fish to be served whole with skin and bones to keep its flavour and integrity perfect, but Western customers rarely like it – or beef brisket with tendons in, which I think tastes better. I also tried introducing things like bitter melon, but it doesn’t suit the Western palate.”
This last comment forces a confession out of me: I’d eaten at Cha Cha Moon before the interview but turned down the adventuroussounding cod and bitter melon glass noodles with black beans in favour of a safer Singapore noodles. “You see!” Yau exclaims. “That one doesn’t really sell.”
Sneaking back to Cha Cha Moon after the interview for a second try, I saw his point: the crisp-fried and flaky cod sharpened up wonderfully by bracingly bitter slices of hard green melon – proof that even at the cheaper end (with main courses starting at £4.50), Yau’s restaurants deliver up food more interesting than the average chain.
The fine dining business seems a world away from Yau’s tough upbringing in rural Norfolk. Arriving from Hong Kong at the age of 11, his was the only Chinese family in King’s Lynn, where his parents had moved to open a takeaway. Yau has talked in the past of facing hostility and casual racism. Did this tough start in life help in the long run?
“Absolutely. In fact, if I had the time and skill I’d like to write a book for people in my position based on Machiavelli’s The Prince, called The Immigrant.”
Any pointers to what it might contain?
“Two things I’ve learnt. Firstly, education is important, but use it to open a dialogue with your possibilities, don’t get stuck in anything too vocational. And while growing up with economic hardship is tough, it gives you the drive to make yourself a better person.”
With Yau now moving beyond Britain it seems that his drive is still far from sated. Hakkasan is ranked 36th in The S.Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants, www.theworlds50best.com
