A Japanese restaurant that has made a big splash in Taiwan and mainland China will open its first UK site in Soho’s Wardour Street next month.

Kanpai Classic specialises in yakinuku, with customers cooking meat and vegetables themselves on a table-top grill. The grilling options will be led by a choice of 10 cuts of wagyu beef.

Founder Soji Hiraide opened his first yakiniku stall in Taipei while still a student in 1999, and launched Kanpai Classic there in 2005. He now has a reported 68 sites under nine brand names across Taiwan and mainland China.

Chef Nicolo Bolognesi, previously of Nobu Hotel in Portman Square, will run the Soho kitchen, offering a 14-course omakase menu from opening with full à la carte offer to follow in the autumn. There will also be an extensive list of sakes, including 10 from the Masuizumi Brewery, founded in Toyama in 1897 and now run by the fifth generation of the founding family.