First Chinese gastropub tipped to start new trend

The multi-millionaire founder of the Wagamama chain and the Michelin-starred Hakkasan restaurant is to open London’s first Chinese gastropub in Soho.

Alan Yau has bought The Endurance pub in Berwick Street and is planning a huge redevelopment of the site to turn it into a venue offering Asian-themed cocktails and street-style Chinese dishes.

Food experts in the capital say the high-profile launch, set for early next year, will spark a new trend in fusion gastropubs, replacing the traditional upmarket sausage and mash dishes that started in the Nineties.

The Endurance was among the first gastropubs in the UK.

Stefan Chomka, deputy editor of Restaurant magazine, said: “It is really interesting. If it was anyone else but Alan Yau suggesting it, this would be considered something of a frivolity, but Alan has such expertise in finding niches and building brands that people really think this could work.

“Ethnic food has changed in recent years. Previously we had three tiers — the high-end restaurants like Hakkasan, the buried speciality places in Chinatown and then touristy places that might not be particularly good, but I think a gastropub serving good, street-style food, could really work and create a real buzz.”

Mr Yau founded Wagamama in 1992 and sold it in 1997, having been credited with revolutionising Asian food trends in the UK. He then established Hakkasan.