Overall ranking: 45 (46)
Resturant ranking: 12 (13)
Alan Yau - Snapshot
Alan Yau is a Hong Kong-born restaurateur who has brought a radical edge to the London market for Oriental restaurants. The Yau empire, which employs around 550 people, currently comprises the Michelin-star Chinese restaurants Hakkasan and Yauatcha and the three Busaba Eathai Thai canteens– a tally that will more than double by the close of 2007.
Alan Yau - Career guide
Alan Yau, who was born in Hong Kong in 1962, came to the UK when he was 12 to join his parents in Kings Lynn, East Anglia, where his father ran the kitchens of a local chop suey house.
After taking his A levels, Yau helped his father open a Chinese takeaway, opening a second while still at college. He then enrolled for franchisee training with McDonald’s in Hong Kong and worked for KFC in London to feed his fascination with food service systems.
In 1992, Yau opened the first Wagamama noodle bar – his healthy take on the fast-food genre – in central London. He sold the business in 1998 when it comprised two venues.
After developing the Satsuma noodle bar for the Royal China Group, Yau launched his first Busaba Eathai in Wardour Street in 1999. This was followed in 2001 by the chic Hakkasan Chinese restaurant in Hanway Place and, in early 2004, the Yauatcha dim sum restaurant and tea house in Broadwick Street. Hakkasan and Yauatcha both won Michelin stars in 2003 and 2005 respectively.
Alan Yau - What we think
Alan Yau’s revitalisation of Oriental cuisine at both the top and the cheaper ends of the market won him the Independent Restaurateur of the Year Award in the 2005 Cateys, where the judges praised his “innovation”, his “restless curiosity” and his “entrepreneurial spirit”.
The man who began his career in a provincial takeaway has also put Chinese cooking firmly on the Michelin map – Hakkasan was the first Chinese restaurant to win a Michelin star and was joined by Yauatcha two years later.
Alan Yau’s mission is to drag Chinese food out of the stagnation he traces back to the zen movement of the 1980s. “The zen, minimalist blueprint left a lot of Chinese restaurants without soul,” he told Caterer in 2004. “Chinese cuisine lacks a profile and leadership internationally as well as qualitative standards. Whatever you think of Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver, people aspire to be like them and China needs figures like that so Chinese chefs can transform their profession from a livelihood into a career.”
Restaurant design and service are as central to Yau’s vision as the food. Wagamama presented Japanese noodles in the radical setting of an open kitchen, minimalist refectory-style dining area, and fast service from waiters with electronic terminals.
For Busabai Eathai, Yau worked with Thai cuisine expert David Thompson in Australia and began an enduring partnership with French interior designer Christian Liagre. The walk-in canteens offered quick and affordable Thai meals and, in 2004, were voted the best places to eat cheaply by Observer readers.
Far from resting on his laurels, Alan Yau has several of new venues planned for the next year or so. They include his international debut with the opening of an up-market Chinese restaurant in Ian Schrager’s Gramercy Park hotel in New York this October.
Early 2007 will bring to London a fourth Busaba Eathai in Floral Street and the top-end Japanese Cha Cha no Hana in St James’s. Work has started on the Chinese Chowbar restaurant that will open in Kingley Court and Yau is also considering a Spanish tapas bar for Norman Foster’s landmark offices on the Thames.
Alan Yau has expressed a long-term ambition to have 15 Hakkasans outside London by 2010 and, in 2007, he will set the ball rolling with openings in Istanbul and Hong Kong. There are also discussions afoot for a Dubai branch although nothing has been finalised yet.
In the meantime, Hakkasan was voted the eighth most popular restaurant among readers of the Harden’s London restaurant guide for 2007.
Alan Yau – Further Information
Wagamama official website
Hakkasan official website
Yauatcha official website
Alan Yau profile on Wikipedia
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