Street food brand Sugoi JPN sets out plan to rapidly expand across London

Having had to adapt their plans as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic, founders Felipe Preece and Veronica Silva ​have begun working on a 'franchise expansion initiative' to rapidly grow the Sugoi JPN brand across the capital. 

Two sites in London have already been secured with the first, in South Wimbledon, due to launch on 6 August.

The second site, located in Palmers Green, is set to open three weeks later on 27 August.

While the focus of both sites will be on offering takeaway and delivery, they will also feature tables for dine in customers.

Partnering with The Hospitality Portal and legal service provider The Bench, Preece and Silva hope to establish multiple sites across London by next year, and then subsequently look to expand the concept outside of the UK.

Inspired by the street food of both Tokyo and Latin America, Sugoi JPN started out life operating out of a dark kitchen site in Bethnal Green, as well as catering to a local pub via a food truck.

The menu's signature dish is a hybrid between Japanese nori and the Mexican taco fittingly named the NoriTaco, which features a crispy seaweed tempura shell shaped like a taco that's filled with sushi rice and Japanese-Latin toppings.

At the soon to launch South Wimbledon site those toppings will include a mix of tuna, salmon, pico de gallo, lamb’s lettuce, sesame seeds, aonori, coriander, and a chive and kimuchee sauce; and fried tempura soft-shell crab with lamb’s lettuce, sesame seeds, aonori, chive, coriander, shichimi togarashi, and spicy mayo.

Sides, meanwhile, will include gyozas chingonas - fried veggie dumplings with pico de gallo, sesame seeds, aonori, chives, sour cream, avocado dressing, spicy sauce, and coriander; and yuca fries - salted casaba fries with shichimi togarashi and spicy mayo.