US-based Korean celebrity chef Akira Back launches a new restaurant in a Mayfair luxury hotel next week – six months after making his London debut just a few minutes’ walk away in another hotel.
Lilly by Akira Back, which opens on Wednesday 2 April, is an all-day restaurant at the new Montcalm Mayfair, a new 150-room boutique hotel off Oxford Street billed as providing ‘sensitive luxury’. The restaurant, which is open from 7am for breakfast until 10.30pm, promises ‘contemporary British [cuisine] with global influences’.
In September, the chef opened four separate venues at the new Mandarin Oriental in Hanover Square: Dosa, a high-end ‘chef’s counter’ serving his interpretation of Korean dishes; the main Japanese-influenced restaurant Akira Back, plus a bar and a rooftop bar with views over London.
Born in Seoul, Akira moved to Colorado as a teenager and was a pro snowboarder before training as a chef. He made his name with the Yellowtail Japanese Restaurant & Lounge in Las Vegas, and now has a restaurant empire spanning the globe from the US, via Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia to his native Korea.
