Japanese restaurant Wabi London has opened its doors.
The stunning restaurant, located at 36-38 Kingsway, London, launched on Thursday 22nd November with former Nobu head chef, Scott Hallsworth at the helm. Fiducia Interiors Ltd was the main contractor on the project, whilst Simon Rogers and Andrew Mitchel were the project managers.
Taking its name from the Japanese aesthetic Wabi-sabi – a movement characterised by simple, undeclared beauty – Wabi London is a brand new restaurant to hit the nation’s capital city. Wabi London lives up to its namesake both through its luxurious, yet understated design, and through the elegance of its food, offering diners a varied yet seasoned contemporary Japanese menu.
The cutting edge approach to contemporary Japanese cuisine is accompanied by a comprehensive wine list; whilst Wabi’s very own sake sommelier is also on hand to help diners choose the perfect pairing for their meal.
At the heart of Wabi London is the stunning theatre kitchen where diners can watch head chef Scott Hallsworth and his team hard at work. This latest venture, ideally located in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, sees the chef join forces with entrepreneur André Cachia to create the perfect destination for food cognisors.
Australian-born head chef, Scott Hallsworth, spent six years at Nobu in London before being handpicked by Nobu Matsuhisa to launch Nobu Melbourne in 2007. Throughout his prolific career, Scott has prepared dishes for some of the world’s leading stars, including former King of Pop Michael Jackson, celebrity couple Victoria and David Beckham, Hollywood actor Robert De Niro and former US President Bill Clinton.
Chef Hallsworth is known for pushing the boundaries of gastronomy, creating dishes that are distinguished by their contrasting textures and flavours, and his signature dishes for Wabi are set to become the talk of the town. Diners can experience such delicacies as foie gras martini with unmeshu jelly and tea smoked duck tataki with burnt ginger amazu sauce.
Prior to taking up his new position at Wabi London, Chef Hallsworth worked at sister-site, Wabi Horsham. Discussing the move from one site to another, Chef Hallsworth, said:
“The brand is the same, but London has a very different feel to Horsham as they’re very different markets. There are similarities, but we see Horsham more as a diffusion brand rather than a copy of what we will have in London.
“London’s always been on the radar, but the opportunity for Horsham came up first so we decided to take that site on and have managed to test things out on a much smaller scale. We’ve learnt a lot in Horsham, but the main thing we take from there is experience.”
As well as presenting guests with high quality cuisine from Chef Hallsworth, Wabi London will also offer guests the option to enjoy a selection of sushi from the site’s dedicated sushi bar, overseen by the expert guidance of Nobu London graduate, Taiji Maruyama. Chef Maru has dedicated his life to perfecting the fine art of sushi preparation and like Chef Hallsworth, Chef Maru makes use of the best local and European ingredients to perfect his creations.
Wabi London has a stylish and beautifully appointed bar that is overseen by Rocco Catalano, one of London’s most talented and experienced bar managers. Rocco has previously worked at such celebrated establishments as Maze, Buddha Bar and 5th Floor Bar at Harvey Nichols and now oversees a superlative drinks offering, including fine wines, champagnes and exotic cocktails. A particular highlight of the menu includes the bespoke Lemongrass Fizz, which infuses a beguiling blend of Wabi-made lemongrass syrup, with Wabi-infused lemongrass Shochu and Prosecco.
In addition, Wabi London has a pastry bar presenting contemporary European desserts with strong Japanese influences. This area of the restaurant features delicious desserts such as Chocol8, made up of eight mind blowing experiences with chocolate, headed up by Sergio Del Castillo Mora, Head Pastry Chef, Wabi who developed his skills as a pastry chef at one of Spain’s most prestigious culinary schools, Escuela Superior de Hosteleria de Sevilla.
Although this is only the second site to open under the Wabi name, it is unlikely to be the last.
Chef Hallsworth, said:
“Our plan is to open five Wabi restaurants in five years, but we are taking it step-by-step. We have had interest from outside of the UK, but we are undecided about which direction we’ll take at the moment. It’s hard to say where the next Wabi will be, but I think in the next year we’ll start planning site number three.”
For more information about Wabi London, please visit: www.wabirestaurants.com.
Wabi Horsham
Based on an izakaya, a traditional Japanese fusion of restaurant and bar, Wabi Horsham is the sister branch of the brand new flagship restaurant, Wabi London.
Although Wabi Horsham is a slightly smaller site than Wabi London, the restaurant still maintains all of the unique traits which have made Wabi such a success with guests. Wabi Horsham includes the groundbreaking seasonally-influenced Japanese menu created by Scott Hallsworth – a menu which has won many accolades including two AA Rosettes.
Dining at Wabi Horsham is enhanced by both a sushi counter that allows its highly skilled chefs to show off their skills and a delightful Japanese water garden for al fresco dining.
In addition, Wabi Horsham private dining presents guests with a unique dining experience – customised cuisine. Whether guests require dishes for business functions, cocktail parties or other social gatherings, Wabi Horsham’s chefs can create bespoke menus which showcase a wealth of imaginative creations alongside perfect refreshing beverages.
With its stylish cocktail lounge – open until 1am Thursday to Saturday – also providing the perfect spot in which to enjoy a delicious signature cocktail, Wabi Horsham has become a destination venue for all of West Sussex.
Fiducia Interiors
London based Fiducia Interiors specialises in restaurant, office and commercial ‘design and build’ projects across the UK, that not only improve working environments but also inspire their users. The company is very versatile and conducts fit-out works of all kinds, alongside construction schemes, for many different sectors.
Fiducia Interiors was founded nine years ago and in this time has completed work for a diverse range of clients, from charity organisations such as Movember, to Cineflix Productions and baked goods franchise Cinnabon. Additional clients include Tourism Ireland, Save the Children, The Royal British Legion and Virgin Media, amongst others and its core belief is that versatility is the key to success.
Fiducia Interiors was the main contractor on Wabi London, with company director Simon Rogers also on board as the overall project manager, assisting in the initial legal negotiations with the landlord and then negotiating the project procurement with suppliers and contractors. In addition to construction work and structural alterations, Simon and his team were responsible for bringing in all of the subcontractors that made the remainder of the works possible.
Fiducia Interiors previously worked on Wabi London’s sister site in Horsham.
Fiducia Interiors Company Director, Simon Rogers, said:
“Working on Wabi London was very important to us. We pride ourselves on enjoying repeat business and a long term relationship with our clients and we have a number of clients who have returned to us over the years, some having worked with us since we first started. It was especially important to be able to represent Wabi again as we took great satisfaction in carrying out the first project for them in Horsham and we very much felt a part of their brand.
“We take massive pride in our work and genuinely try to obtain best value for our clients wherever possible. With the unique role I have played within this as both Project Manager and Principal Contractor, we have been able to engineer costs and design to ensure a great looking product that represents fair value.”
Simon added:
“Fiducia is Latin for integrity – this was at the heart of the company’s inception and remains a large part of its ethos. We are fortunate to have a number of clients that can ring us at any time for advice and know they will get a truthful response – even if it doesn’t create a new project for us! The business environment is all about relationships and knowing you are receiving competent and trustworthy advice, and we value our reputation very highly in this respect.”
