An ambitious supper-club chef has launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise £75,000 towards opening a permanent restaurant after cooking 18-course dinners in his parents’ north London kitchen for the past two years.
Max Posener trained under Gareth Ward at Ynyshir – his original inspiration to become a chef – and at Cycene in London before launching his supper club Otaku in Finchley, hosting meals for ten guests at a time. The series ended last month.
He says: “I’ve cooked every Otaku service from my parents’ kitchen. They’ve been incredibly patient, but I think they’d quite like it back.
“Otaku started because I wanted to prove I could cook the kind of food I believed in. Over the last two years it’s grown into something much bigger than I expected, but I’ve always known it was a stepping stone to my first restaurant.
“A permanent restaurant is the natural progression. It’s where I want to be chasing Michelin stars, while having the time and space to keep developing the food and the experience.
“Kickstarter felt like the right way to make that happen because the people who’ve eaten at Otaku already understand what we’re trying to build.”
‘Otaku’ is a Japanese term for a young person with an obsession – often to the detriment of their social skills. Max’s cooking combines Ynyshir-style Japanese-derived techniques with playful takes on comfort food.
Max’s Kickstarter campaign opens today (11 September) and runs for 29 days. There are 11 tiers for pledges, ranging from £25 for your name on the wall of the restaurant up to £7,500 – which gives you private hire of the restaurant for 16 guests in its first 12 months, plus Otaku Black Cards for each guest, with benefits including complimentary drinks on arrival throughout the year, priority bookings and waiting list access, advance information on artist appearances in the Jazz Bar, enhanced odds in the annual complimentary-meal draw and Otaku Rewards