London restaurant Cocoon to relaunch as Japanese restaurant Senkai

Pan-Asian restaurant Cocoon in London's Piccadilly has closed and will reopen as a modern Japanese restaurant later this year.

Owner the Ignite Group has shut the restaurant and will relaunch it as Senkai in September following a refurbishment.

The space, which will be redesigned by Christopher Prain, will feature a 125-seat dining room, a counter-top dining bar seating 50 and a cocktail lounge for up to 50 guests. The decor will feature a natural palette of bronze, sycamore and walnut.

Senkai will serve modern, Japanese inspired dishes, such as cobia with rice vinegar and rock samphire; and Wagyu rib-eye with shimeji mushrooms, while the restaurant's signature raw bar menu will offer sashimi, carpaccio, tiradito and ceviche dishes.

Ignite Group, formerly known as Eclipse Bar Ventures, was founded by Matt Hermer and Paul Deeming in 1998. In addition to its Eclypse bar, private members' club Boujis and the Playtime bar, the group also runs the Wyld club at the W Hotel Leicester Square.

Ignite's restaurant portfolio also includes Bumpkin, which has two outlets in Notting Hill and Kensington and will launch a third at Westfield Stratford City in September.

Internationally the company runs an Eclypse bar at the W Hotel Barcelona and will open a Boujis club in Hong Kong in October.

Westfield Stratford City confirms restaurant operators >>

New man appointed to take Ignite Group international >>

By Kerstin Kühn

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