The new Ivy Asia on The Hayes in Cardiff has opened its doors to customers this autumn, right next to its modern British food sister restaurant, The Ivy. With equally opulent decor that includes two huge fake cherry trees and green onyx floors, the eye-catching Ivy Asia is the latest addition to the city centre's food scene.
However, the new restaurant it has not escaped controversy, even before it opened, coming under fire last year for a now-deleted advert which saw the chain accused of cultural appropriation. The advert, posted on Instagram, showed two women (dubbed as "the ladies") dressed in traditional East Asian clothing, carrying Wagasas [bamboo and paper parasols] and branded Ivy Asia bags before running to flag down a rickshaw. After climbing in, they fall backwards only to be saved by a "hero" who races them to Ivy Asia. The advert was met with criticism for its "anti-Asian racism" and The Ivy Asia apologised, as reported by The Independent.
Conversations about Ivy Asia’s ‘cultural appropriation’ recently resurfaced in anticipation of the restaurant opening in Cardiff. Josh Ong, a food writer and journalist for The World's 50 Best, wrote an article, ‘A Tale of Three Asias,’ in his newsletter, Bitten, in which the restaurant’s interior was described as "dark and gloomy, they aim to mirror the mystery of east Asia, as if we don’t just eat like regular humans in normal dining rooms." You can read more about that here.
