A Japanese restaurant is opening inside Cardiff's former much-loved Buffalo Bar next week. First-look photos show the plush interior at Koi No Yokan - Koi for short - which takes inspiration from Izakayas, a type of Japanese bar serving small dishes alongside drinks.
Koi will be situated on the ground floor of the building, once inhabited by the original Buffalo Bar at 11 Windsor Place in Cardiff and on the first floor there will be a new version of live music venue Buffalo Bar - see more on that here. Koi will open its doors to the public on Thursday, July 7 , serving "delicious, modern, naughty Japanese-inspired small plates and bento boxes".
Announcing the news of the opening on its Instagram, founder of Koi and cocktail extraordinaire Alexander Taylor, who has long desired to do "delicious, modern, naughty Japanese-inspired" food, wrote: "We are on time. See you for Japanese Small Plates, Cocktails, Sake, Cold Beer and the best beer garden in the City."
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Complete with Japanese-inspired interiors, the place will be a vision of red lights, lanterns and neon, and is being styled to look "more like a bar" than a restaurant, to honour the country's custom of drinks often being accompanied by a light meal - and stay in line with their 12pm to 2am opening hours.
As you step through the front door, you will be met with a back bar - built by local carpenter Jack Valentine and decorated and engraved with a gold epoxy resin dragon - which stands opposite a bright mural created by local painter Richard Gaskell.
With red custom booths, traditional Japanese room dividers, some of which are decorated with black and white pages from manga comic books and an outdoor seating area, Alex, who also runs city centre cocktail joint Pennyroyal, said the renovation of such a well-known establishment has been a real labour of love since getting the keys in early May.
"It's been a pretty punishing refurb in here. The building wasn't in the best nick," he says. But with it, have come some wonderful discoveries, such as finding and using tiles from Buffalo Bar's original days. And that's not all Alex will be doing to pay homage to the legendary music venue and watering hole, which closed in 2019.
In September, Buffalo bar is getting a reawakening by Alex and his team who will reopen the bar and music venue above Koi No Yokan - with their own spin. But it seems opening a restaurant and bar in such an iconic spot comes with some pressure.
He says: "My main thing right now is doing the building justice in terms of putting something in here that people really do love and want to come back for time and time again. But also it's really nailing the concept for downstairs because, obviously, everyone is so excited about the the idea of Buffalo [bar] reopening upstairs. It's important for me right now to, whilst we're not giving them that straightaway, giving them something fantastic on the ground floor that people sort of understand why we've done it."
With dishes such as Katsu Sando chicken and Poki bowls - with a twist - on the menu, Alex, 32, explains Koi is getting creative with its recipes, introducing unique and delicious tweaks to these much-loved dishes and making them inclusive of all dietary needs.
"We've tried to be as accessible as possible with the food menu. So the vast majority of the dishes have a vegan equivalent of them. We've also gone quite heavily gluten-free as well, making sure that, rather than people having to pick one or the other in terms of dishes and the usual standard vegan options, we've gone 'Well, this is the menu, and most of it anyone can have'," Alex says passionately.
He continues: "We've got Japanese fried chicken, Sando, but instead of using bread, we've been working on a waffle recipe. So we've got chicken and waffles going into traditional Japanese. So we're doing that with a pickled slaw and nori mayonnaise and a Filipino inspired barbecue sauce. And that's probably my favourite dish so far I've tried."
Another dish they are preparing is a cross between a salad and a poki bowl consisting of yellowtail sashimi in a fried rice cracker (as the bowl) paired with seasonal vegetables and a dressing.
"We've got some really good dishes," he says. "We're lucky with the chefs here. They're all super passionate."
And it's not just all food. The bar programme is also taking inspiration from Japanese bar culture, including fluorescent colours and disco vibes and a large range of Sake and Japanese whiskey available.
Keen foodies have commented on Koi's social media, expressing their excitement for the food joint. One wrote: "Looking forward to it!" while another said: "Oooh can’t wait for this! Loooove Japanese food". Koi No Yokan will open on Thursday, July 7. To book a table, click here or visit the linktree on Koi's Instagram page.
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