The Sethi family, who are behind the Hoppers and Motu Indian Kitchen concepts amongst others, are set to launch a new restaurant in London’s Soho called Berenjak, MCA understands.
It is understood that Berenjak will offer “authentic home-style Iranian cuisine, specialising in small mazeh-style sharing plates, charcoal grilled kababs and a variety of khoresht, rice and salads”.
It is thought that the new concept will launch in Romilly Street, Soho, on the site, which used to be Eat Tokyo.
Earlier this year MCA revealed that JKS Restaurants, the Sethi family’s restaurant group, had strengthened its operational team, with three new appointments, including one with an eye on opening its first site in the Middle East.
The company, which launched its eleventh site – Brigadiers in the Bloomberg Place scheme – earlier this year, hired John Canning, formerly head of finance at ASK Italian and Gaucho, as its new finance director.
At the same time, Simon King, who earlier this year stepped down as director of operations at Gordon Ramsay, joined JKS in the same role.
Finally, Simon Robinson, formerly general manager operations at Novikov Restaurant & Bar, joined the group as a director of operations based in Dubai, with JKS expected to open its first site in the Dubai International Financial Centre by the end of this year.
Luke Bishop, the former managing director of Polpo, is also working with JKS as an operational and new projects consultant.
Talking about an overseas launch earlier this year, Karam Sethi told MCA’s sister publication Restaurant: “We’re only interested in projects we have full creative control over. We’ve had a number of approaches from abroad. As soon as we find the right partner, we will do something. Eventually, the plan is to have partners in key locations including the US, the Middle East and Asia.”
JKS is also planning to open a string of curry houses in London Zone 1 and 2 under its Motu brand. The company, which currently operates Motu Indian Kitchens at four Deliveroo Editions locations, has used the experience to explore suburban London. The restaurants will have a wider menu than Motu Delivery Kitchen, but with a family curry house type experience.
