The Guardian
Grace Dent checked in to what was billed as a ‘robot yakitori restaurant’, fully expecting to eat food prepared by our “new mechanical overlords”. So she was “hugely disappointed” (and, we hope, rather relieved) to find no “jaw-dropping, futuristic” droids chopping, stirring and plating, but instead a “deeply unattractive kitchen gadget” in the form of a semi-automatic deep-fryer.
The exaggerated sales pitch and the “big stainless-steel box” in the front window seem to have scared custom away, too. The restaurant was deserted when Grace visited for lunch, while stalls at nearby Berwick Street market were humming with punters ordering food produced by human hand.
Which was a pity because, she said, Yari Club pumps out excellent-value and tasty skewers of every imaginable cut of chicken dipped into a special, sweet, soy-based sauce – all prepped by human chefs and served by “wonderful” front-of-house staff.
Grace Dent - 2025-03-02
