US restaurant chain Sushisamba to open in London's Heron Tower
The company, owned by Samba Brands Management, has confirmed it will open restaurants on the 38th and 39th floors of the Heron Tower in Bishopsgate for its European debut in July having signed the lease at the beginning of 2011.
Shimon Bokovz, who founded the company with Matthew Johnson and Danielle Billera in 1999, said he was 'thrilled' that the company was finally launching in the UK.
“The energy of London and its international appeal is a natural fit for our expansion, and we are so pleased to make the Heron Tower our first European home," he said.
Jeffrey Kipp, who has worked at Gordon Ramsay's Royal Hospitality Road and Daylesford Organic, has been appointed head chef, overseeing a menu which will feature a mixture of Brazilian churrasco and moqueca, anticuchos and seviches from Peru and Japanese dishes such as sushi, tempura and miso soup.
The restaurant's kitchen will be open and it will feature a robata grill while the bar will serve signature cocktails such as the Nina Fresa Chu-Cumber and Caipirinha alongside spirits such as shochu and cachaça and wines, beers and Champagnes.
Sushisamba, a concept based on the food and culture borne out of the emigration of thousands of Japanese to South America in the early 20th Century, opened its first site in New York in 1999.
Sambra Brands Management operates a further three Sushi Samba restaurants in the US - in Chicago, Las Vegas and Miami, as well as the Sugarcane raw bar grill in Miami.
The operator has also signed the lease for Heron Tower's 40th floor with details yet to be revealed about its plans for the space.
Sushisamba will be the second restaurant concept to open in the Heron Tower, London's third largest tower. Drake & Morgan's fifth site, The Drift, opened there when the building opened at the end of last year.
