Alan Yau Is Back and Will Open Yamabahçe in September

Restaurateur Alan Yau — creator of Wagamama, Hakkassan, Yauatcha, Duck and Rice and Park Chinois, among others — has announced on Instagram that he’s “back in the restaurant business” and will open Yamabahçe in the second week of September.

The post shows his trademark eponymous branding outside a site on the corner of James Street and Barrett Street in Marylebone. The restaurant will, he says, be “mono product,” serving only pide — a style of Turkish ‘pizza’. It will replace the Marylebone Creperie which has occupied the site for 38 years.

Yau was behind the opening of Babaji Pide on Shaftesbury Avenue in early 2015 — a restaurant that served pide, alongside mezze, grilled meats and Turkish wines. Yau is no longer involved in that venture.

Eater London understands that the sale has been managed by BMO Real Estate. James Street is a popular restaurant destination — between Oxford Street and Wigmore Street, just south of Marylebone High Street. Other brands in the area include the first branch of popular burger restaurant Patty & Bun, Jason Atherton’s Social Wine & Tapas and later this year will be home to the eagerly-awaited second Hoppers next month.

Yamabahçe will open in the second week of September at 26 James Street, London W1U 1EN