Hakkasan and Yauatcha looking for another site

Collaboration breaks down, but another site is in his sights

Alan Yau, owner of the UK's Hakkasan and Yauatcha in London, is no longer to open a Chinese restaurant – Park Chinois – at hotelier Ian Schrager's New Gramercy Park Hotel in New York, and is now looking for another site in which to open a fine dining Chinese restaurant. Its launch had been postponed several times before the announcement.

Both parties said the decision not to go ahead was amicable and Schrager is now, according to The New York Times, in discussions with Japanese chef Yuji Wakiya, who has two Chinese restaurants in Tokyo, to open a Chinese restaurant there in the spring, although a spokesperson said the new collaboration was not confirmed.

Schrager said, "We were 100 per cent committed to devoting the time and effort necessary to create the one-ofa- kind experience Alan Yau is known for, however, unique circumstances have caused extended delays in the restaurant's opening".

Yau concurred that although "it has been a very positive experience for me to collaborate with him (Schrager) over the past 18 months… circumstances beyond our control have meant that we have suffered severe delays in setting up the operation, to the extent that the whole venture has now been thrown into question. As a result, it is with regret that we have mutually agreed to terminate our collaboration as the window of opportunity has passed in order for us to create something extraordinary for NYC."

He is looking for another site in New York with about 10,000sq.ft or more. Yau said, as regards his and Schrager's potential partnership, "I sincerely hope that we will have another opportunity in the future."