Today is friday and what a great day to invite that special person in our lives and go to somewhere even more special. Yes you already know it by the title name, our recommendation for tonight is HAKKASAN in London.
There are two, one in Mayfair and other in Hanway Place. This is a Top restaurant and lounge bar, very cosy that will make you feel with an astonishing sense of happiness.
We decided to talk about this place in particular not only for the cosy and special feeling but the design and the people in charge of all this great transformations like Christian Liaigre.
With HAKASSAN and its ling ling lounge continuing to buzz all week long, stuffed to the grills with celebrities and style gurus ever since its 2001 opening, it’s difficult to remember what a risk it was for restaurateur Alan Yau. He made his name with Wagamama, wich as become an international chain of 50 restaurants since 1992 when he first surprised Londoners with its blend of cool design, communal tables and cheap noodles, in Bloomsbury. People have a great affection for Wagamama despite the fact that it’s a chain, and it was even crowned as Zagat’s ‘Most Popular London eatery in 2006, pushing the likes of Nobu and Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant’s down the list. The key to Wagamama success is its sleek, minimalist design original by John Pawson: the food may be cheap but the costumers don’t feel sullied by their association with what has become a mass-market outlet. In 2003, it won a much coveted Michelin Star, an extraordinary first for a British restaurant specialized in chinese food.
During the day the restaurant specializes in innovative dim sum, establishing new taste adventures within the chinese tradition of small dishes, with an à la carte menu in the evenings. The main restaurant is accompanied by Lin Ling, a more informal lounge and bar which offers the same cuisine and has become a destination for oriental-influenced cocktails which are becoming increasingly popular.
In order to establish Hakkasan as a unique, high-calibre restaurant that is very different from Wagamama, innovative design played as the adventurous menu. Yau stepped away from the purely minimalist ethos that brought success to his chain and hired Christian Liaigre to creat a dark, sultry, fashionable restaurant which would have both finesse and mystery while drawing upon chinese tradition. Liaigre is famous for designing the homes of celebrities, particularly from the world of haute culture. The intention was clear:Hakkasan was to be Bespoke. Yau wanted Liaigre to design the interior with a view to “bring back the dragon”, contrasting with the clinical simplicity wich has become to dominate designs of the contemporary East Asian restaurants in the West. The result is the Absorption of the signposts os chinese culture – The screens, lanterns, latticework and ornate, detailed imagery – into an ultramodern design.
This is a place worth to be seen and felt, so grab someone special go for it. Feel the the design and food senses of the Oriental Asia.