Live-fire restaurant Nela (pictured) has closed down after less than a year at the revamped Whiteley’s shopping centre in Bayswater – to be replaced by a similar venture under a new name and ownership.
The new occupant is Kaio, funded by an unnamed private investor and operated by hospitality consultants Berkeley Simmons Leisure – who have retained Nela’s head chef, Sachin Mistry, in the same role.
Sachin says: “Together, we have created a menu that celebrates vibrant, seasonal ingredients brought together with smoke, spice, acidity and texture, with many dishes cooked over an open fire.”
Nela was launched to considerable fanfare last September as a key attraction following the billion-pound Whiteley makeover. The London outpost of an Amsterdam restaurant, it was lambasted in a review by critic William Sitwell of the Daily Telegraph as a “desultory culinary debacle”.
Kaio comprises a restaurant, cocktail bar and rotunda-style alfresco terrace. Dishes cooked over the live-fire grill include various cuts of short-horn beef along with Canadian lobster, lobster, Cornish sea bass, glazed Iberio pork and chicken. Food is being charged at 50% off during the soft opening until August 1.
