A popular Middle Eastern restaurant has closed after more than two years at Wapping Wharf. Jigaraki is one of several food outlets to shut down in recent months within the Cargo development in the city centre.
The street food restaurant set up its first permanent site in August 2020 after five years of trading at festivals across the UK. The concept was inspired by owner Ben Williams' trip to Isfahan, Iran, where he fell in love with the bustling food stalls known as Jigaraki.
Sharing the announcement on Instagram on New Year's Eve, the restaurant said: "We have decided to press the pause button and close Jigaraki at Cargo 2. Our last service at Cargo 2 will be tomorrow evening. We will be taking some time to work out what is next for Jigaraki.
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"We would like to thank everyone for their support over the last few years and look forward to seeing you all in the future."
Jigaraki was known for its Persian and Levantine street food offering Middle Eastern influences with a modern flair, including freshly made flatbreads and colourful rice bowls. Its last day of trading was on New Year's Day. Wapping Wharf thanked Ben and the team for being part of the community, but said it wasn't "goodbye forever".
"We would like to say a huge thank you and farewell to our friends at @jigarakiuk who have been a part of the community since 2020," Wapping Wharf said. "However, this is not goodbye forever as they have lots of exciting plans for the future - so watch this space for what's next for them!"
Jigaraki is one of several food outlets to close in the Cargo development over the past few months. Oliver's Ice Cream and Woky Ko closed their sites at the end of 2022 and the future of taproom Wild Beer is not yet clear after the brewery fell into administration.
However, several new venues have also opened in Cargo 1 and 2 in recent weeks, including Tare's wine bar Picole, East Bristol Bakery and Woky Ko founder's new restaurant Daily Noodles.
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