MIDTOWN — A Michelin-starred restaurant — which its proprietors have called the Chinese equivalent of the Japanese chain Nobu — is scheduled to open early next month on West 43rd Street between Eighth and Ninth avenues.
Hakkasan already has outposts in London, Miami, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and India, but the Midtown location will be its first in New York City.
Chef Ho Chee Boon, who has spent 24 years working in the kitchens of renowned Asian restaurants around the world, is moving to New York to help develop the new menu, which will feature a number of new recipes using locally sourced ingredients, a spokeswoman said.
Those new additions will complement some of the signature Hakkasan dishes, including roasted silver cod with champagne and Chinese honey, stir-fry black pepper rib-eye beef with merlot and steamed dim sum.
The high-end restaurant, where dinners can cost more than $100 per person, first went before the Community Board 4 liquor licensing committee early last year, with a targeted opening date of November 2011.
The committee approved the request for the 250-seat establishment, but at least one resident expressed concerns that the restaurant would be a detriment to the neighborhood, drawing noise and crowds.
At the meeting, Hakkasan’s chief operating officer, Didier Souillat, argued that the restaurant could actually improve conditions on the block, as it did when it opened on Hanway Place in London.
Chuck Spence, then co-chair of the CB4 committee, agreed.
"This is going to be much better than a nightclub," he said.
According to the Hakkasan website, the restaurant is now scheduled to open April 3.
