American-based Korean celeb chef Akira Back is no longer headlining the restaurants at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Mayfair, which he joined amid much fanfare at the hotel’s launch in June last year.
The hotel’s two restaurants, Akira Back and Dosa, and two bars, ABar Lounge and ABar Rooftop, were quietly rebranded this week without his name attached – and without explanation from either party. However, eyebrows in the industry were raised earlier this year when the chef opened another restaurant at a rival hotel in the same part of town, Lilli by Akira Back at the Montcalm Mayfair.
The main restaurant at the Mandarin Oriental, launched as simply ‘Akira Back’, is now branded even more simply as ‘The Restaurant’, offering “a refined yet relaxed concept where the vibrant simplicity of Mediterranean cuisine is elevated through Japanese and Korean techniques”. Billed on the hotel website as “a new culinary direction”, this sounds not unlike the interpretation of Japanese and Korean cuisine offered previously in the venue.
Meanwhile, the more elevated and exclusive Dosa – a chef’s table experience limited to 14 diners at a sitting, showcasing contemporary Korean dishes prepared using French techniques, has been replaced by Somssi by Jihun Kim, who “blends traditional Korean techniques with modern precision”.
Korean-born Jihun was the executive chef who ran Dosa from the outset, and has worked with Akira for the past decade – so it is quite possible that any changes will be minimal. Dosa won early acclaim for cooking described as “exceptional” in the forthcoming Harden’s guide, and which earned a very prompt star from the Michelin boys.
Akira’s departure from the Mandarin Oriental coincides with the mass exodus of famous-name chefs from Harrods, where sushi supremo Masayoshi Takayama and Britain’s own Tom Kerridge, Gordon Ramsay and Calum Franklin have all been dropped as the department store pivots to own-brand dining.