London Restaurant Pioneer Alan Yau’s Next Great Idea Is a Trendy Mozzarella Sandwich

The sando can only be created, never destroyed

As sure as food can be put between crustless bread, visionary London restaurateur Alan Yau will add to the capital’s sando parade by putting mozzarella between crustless bread, in partnership with mozz experts Obica. Obica South Kensington will be given over to a “homage to katsu sando” with “Italian characteristics, mozzarella DNA and a Milanese core,” according to Propel.

It will add to Yau’s planned restaurants for 2020, a flagship restaurant near Docklands that he describes as “a Chinese River Cafe,” and a smaller Japanese grill at the same development. More pressingly: can a mozzarella sando really improve on its fabled ancestors, the calzone and panuozzo? Is Yau going to deliver an unexpected hybrid? And what will London put between bread next? [Propel]

And in other news...

• The capital’s essential coffee shops stand strong, but new arrivals — whether pushing trends or bucking them — keep the cafe scene exciting. To that end: here are the best new coffee shops and cafes in London.
• Here are the Eater Awards 2019 finalists for London’s Restaurant of the Year, Restaurant Design of the Year, and Dish of the Year.
• Prince Andrew dropped Pizza Express Woking into his disastrous Jeffrey Epstein interview with Emily Maitlis on Newsnight, and Pizza Express Woking is now the most infamous restaurant in the U.K. — dethroning the Salisbury Zizzi at the centre of last year’s novichok poisoning.
• An in-depth look at how Trump’s tariffs are hurting the British cheese industry. [Wired]
• Jamie Oliver’s U.K. restaurant empire may be dead, but the brand is going strong in global markets: Oliver will put his name to Jamie Oliver Kitchen, soon to open in Bali and Bangkok. [Propel]
• Small chain success story Rosa’s Thai has made a savvy purchase in buying Martin Morales’ Ceviche out of administration. Morales will depart the group, with managing director Raquel de Oliveira leading the business and its sibling, Andina, alongside Rosa’s founders Saiphin and Alex Moore.
• Marks and Spencer is putting sourdough crumbs inside its new chicken kiev to make it ~fancy~. Unnecessary, folks. [Mirror]
• Good tweet: