“It was like checking into heaven”

While Hakkasan restaurants continue to thrive in cities all over the world, the news that the original site on Hanway Place in central London was to close after nearly 25 years was met with shock. Robbie Bargh, co-founder of hospitality agency Gorgeous Group, was involved with the restaurant at inception. He looks back on the creation of a super brand.

“Hakkasan was one of the very first projects Gorgeous Group worked on. I remember, it was so funny, he led me down some steps to this cavernous basement and I thought “what the hell have you done?” We went round the corner to his little Japanese shochu bar off Hanway Place and he convinced me this was going to be the best thing and it was going to be amazing. He had this incredible vision from day one.

It is very sad that it has closed. It was so much more than a restaurant. It was a game-changer for lots of reasons. Alan is a genius; he’s also a maverick. He takes massive risks. At the time, it was probably one of the most expensive restaurants ever built. He worked with the best people. Arnold Chan for lighting; Christian Liaigre did the original design; and a shopfitter called Pat Carter, who did all the boutiques on Bond Street. Claude Challe from Hotel Costes and Buddha Bar did the music. All these incredible things came together.

Alan will admit he did 95% of what he wanted to do. I think he bought it for about £14 or £15 per square foot. When you think about the emotion per square foot that place generated, it was massive.

For me, the restaurant was the epitome of escapism. Even before you’d stepped inside, you were wondering “where are we going?”. Hanway Place was just awful! Then when you got downstairs, there was this beautiful reception. It was like you were checking into heaven. It was so beautifully designed – within an inch of its life. The team all looked so glamorous; the wardrobe was a mix of Hussain Chalayan and Chester Barrie. Everyone came – all the actors and film stars – everyone wanted to be part of it.

It was like a film set. They created intimacy with the details of the cages, the creation of smaller spaces within a bigger space, the height of the tables, the height of the banquettes, the height of the chairs, the precision of the angle of the lights which would hit the table just so. This was Alan! He was just obsessed! What guests didn’t see was the detail in the kitchens. It was quite radical, spending a lot of money on a kitchen. We also had these incredible fridges in the bar; it was one of the very first places that had a DJ station attached to the bar. Originally, there was a lounge bar as you went in, but people wanted to eat there desperately and wouldn’t take no for an answer. Obviously there was a revenue opportunity, so after about six months, they made Ling Ling, where they did dim sum service. It didn’t have a separate identity before that but Ling Ling still exists today which is incredible. Years after Hakkasan launched, I went to the Hakkasan in Abu Dhabi and it still had that really strong DNA, that’s the value of that brand.

Nobu opened in 1997. It was light, it was natural, it was minimalist. Hakkasan was the antithesis of that. It was sexy, it was provocative, it was naughty. Nobu had black cod. Hakkasan had the silver cod with Champagne. The shu mai, the venison puffs, the prawn toasts, the duck spring rolls became key staples. The desserts were just incredible, things you would never have got in Chinatown. We created this amazing drink, the Hakka, served in a bamboo glass with lychees, which became a massive bestseller.

Alan has incredible vision and Hakkasan was way ahead of its time but we didn’t talk about it in that way then. Working on Hakkasan taught me how you could make something very emotional and transport someone into another world. It was storytelling at its very best. Lots of people try to do this today but Hakkasan was one of the originals. It became a super brand.”

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