Orienteering in the kitchen pays off as Harajuku Kitchen wins foodie award
A capital eatery is named best restaurant in Scotland at the prestigious Golden Chopsticks Awards 2019
Edinburgh’s only Japanese owned and run AA rosette restaurant has been named the Best in Scotland at an awards ceremony in London celebrating the UK’S Oriental food scene. Harajuku Kitchen took the crown this week at the Golden Chopsticks Awards which were held at the London Marriott Hotel, Grosvenor Square.
Now in its second year, the awards,
are one of the largest and most prestigious celebrations of Oriental food in the world. Shortlisted restaurants, which included some of the very best in the UK such as Yauatcha, Duck & Rice and Kanada Ya, were voted for by members of the public over a six-week period, with 20,000 votes registered.
Harajuku Kitchen, launched in Edinburgh in 2013 by chef-patron Kaori Simpson, offers authentic Japanese comfort food, street food and sushi and has won numerous awards while garnering a loyal following in Edinburgh and beyond.
Kaori said: “We are so delighted with this accolade; it is a real honour to be recognised alongside some of the greats of the industry such as Ken Hom and Andrew Wong and restaurants like The Araki and Yauatcha. We focus on simplicity, flavour and on being as authentic as possible, using the recipes that were passed down from my great grandfather’s restaurant to my mother, who taught me to cook.
“Whilst our food is Japanese our ingredients are, where possible, local and this is going to be an even bigger focus for us in 2019 and beyond with a commitment to sustainable sourcing.”
Gok Wan, co-founder and host of the awards, said: “After the amazing success of our first awards last year, we knew it was going to be a tall order to go bigger and better this year, but we feel we pulled it off! The Golden Chopsticks Awards has well and truly cemented itself into the culinary calendar.
“What an amazing night, bringing together the good and the great from the Oriental food world in one room, with winners covering the broad spectrum of SE Asian food from Chinese, Japanese and Thai to Vietnamese, Malaysian and Korean. It was fantastic to see so many accomplished restaurateurs in the room, alongside the rising stars of the future!”