You are listening to Chef Life by Cartage Foods.
Hi guys, welcome to Chef Life podcast number two.
We're here today at Ijakaia in York with Danny and Adam.
Guys we've been up for just three years now, six months?
No, three months.
Three months.
We've been going up into the public and we did the soft lunch from the 23rd to the 26th
of November.
Awesome.
So yeah, really excited to talk about the film today and where they've taken the restaurant
in terms of this journey and thanks for listening.
So over to you guys really.
It would be good to tell everyone how you got here, where you come from, what you've
done in the past and...
Do you want to go first, Danny?
Well yeah, so me and Adam met each other while we were figuring out our first ever business
venture, it's found at Spark York, so that's where we met.
Adam was working on the bars and I was doing street food there, both out of shipping containers.
Obviously just trying to get our foot in the door with plans to open something like brick
and mortar on our own.
So now it's like four years later and I only found out if Ben you was really looking for
a way long time.
Smart as well, I've done it really.
I came I think first day when you're still finishing off and it was like spanging inside
and out, it's really good.
Goodbye.
Yeah, I always had the dream to open a restaurant.
I've done 10 years of experience in Michelin-star restaurants, so I've always been proper chef,
chef wanting to push my experience and knowledge through the industry and I had no money.
So I was like street food is probably a good way in, so we did street food for three years
as Shory, which got really good responses and we did quite well, which has enabled us
to secure a name in the city and open up a venue under the new name is Coyote.
Awesome.
Yeah, myself, I started out with a music business where I was doing festivals at local festivals
with untight musicians and then through that kind of got involved with Spark from the beginning.
So I used to work for Spark when it opened, I helped open that and then six months in
I opened my own bar there, which was the Bohemian Bar and that was when I met Danny from there.
So as Danny said, since then we were trying to open somewhere to get right, opened a second
bar in Spark as well and then as soon as the opportunity came for us to open this, I was
less into my position at Spark.
Yeah.
Still got the bars there, but we just got two and they've run up there.
Smashed it.
Oh man, he's awesome.
So I hear Saturday in the foods banging like really, really good.
So obviously make you a shawry and yeah, food was big there and I was like gutted when he
closed, but I sort of got the vision and yeah, like where you're faking it.
I think that while I mean, sort of suits me, but our Japanese kind of vibe and how you're
playing it in is what I experienced on Saturday is it's a different take to other Japanese
sort of restaurants have eaten that and stuff.
So in terms of the food and like where you're going with that, what's kind of a journey
you want Medina to have from the drinks to the food?
Like what experience are you kind of looking for?
Well, we've got the front lounge area here.
So this is where we try to start the experience for the diners.
So we're asking them to come in here, cocktail, sake and arrival and then we can move them
through into the restaurant area.
So at the moment we've got lunch service Friday, Saturday, Sunday and then Wednesday to yeah,
Friday to Sunday lunch and Wednesday to Saturday we're doing evening service and we're soon
changing the direction of how we're going to be serving the evening service, but we'll
get on to that in a bit I guess.
But that's yeah, we like to people to come in and relax and we'll try and make it and
it's a kaiso so it's something that you can just come and stay and drink as much as you
want and when you're ready to get some food go through to the restaurant.
Nice and the vibe really suits that kind of modern sort of Japanese feel and style, where
you're going.
So you can really set it apart within York as well.
And then sort of flavor wise what are your ways trying to take the diner, what's the...
So we're trying to make some dishes which are quite classically casual dishes and we'll
find a little bit more, give them a little bit extra flair, you know just little pops
of flavor, little bits of umami, something that you're going to remember when you leave.
It's classic dishes, you know, we've got like yakitori on, but we take it to the next level
by like suvien and the chicken thighs and cutting them into perfect portions.
And then glazing them over the charcoal barbecue as cooking them like every 30 seconds pushing
them to turn them into a perfect.
And it's just a lot of attention to detail on some really casual style dishes to make
them a little bit more formal.
Oh, I mean, so the taste of menu I had was quite a light bit.
Like you said, that detail and everything was phenomenal.
I really enjoyed it.
Like just the presentation was good, the whole experience was relaxed, but felt fine dining
but without the stuffiness.
That's exactly the direction.
Yeah, and that's, that's I think where everyone wants to go.
And yeah, so you talked about where you're going to take the menu and so is that a bit
more where you're going to head?
Yeah, so in the future we're looking at, so basically we've been launching the chef selection
menu for the last month and it turns out about 89% of people are just going for that.
Awesome.
So it means if we're doing the two menus and we've got like a hell of a lot of preparation
to do really, is the deadline of it all.
So if 90% of people go for that menu, then it's better off as putting a lot more energy
into that to make sure that's more refined.
And that's the direction.
The customer seemed to want us to go in, so we're just going with the flow of it.
And flavour wise, is there anything you've been playing with recently you want to try
and bolden out on or any new Japanese influences?
Well I'm currently writing our season menus, so I'll be looking at the whole seasons.
I think we'll be changing how many via the seasons, which is always a fantastic business
to show.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
It keeps you inspired by what's going on around you.
So I'm thinking about summer dishes at the minute, I've just found some lovely strawberry
vinegar, which we get from Coach Filiz.
Good plug, good plug, I'll take that.
I'm already thinking about the oysters we're going to be putting on with that.
So I'm thinking about some alpine strawberries and strawberry vinegar, oysters.
And I'm just planning ahead at this minute, so trying to get it nailed down so we know
exactly what direction we're going and where we're going, what we're serving.
We're going to establish ourselves for the year, really, which is fun, really exciting
to have that idea.
We feel like we're a lot clearer headed now and we know what direction the restaurant
wants to go in and where we can put ourselves.
Yeah, oh you set the vibe I felt on Saturday was just right, like the way you serve the
food and the menu itself and I'd say that then you establish that and then you can just
lead out or something.
Is there any sort of flavours that you've been playing with but haven't quite worked
yet that you want to try and build out a bit more or anything like that?
Because I remember you were doing this, I can't remember what it was, I'll butcher this,
but it was like a sort of pasta but you're doing it in this star shape.
But it was like, I can't remember what it was, you were messing with it.
I was making all sorts of different gears and fillings and gears and shapes, yeah.
Like mandu's and gears and all of the different shape names and stuff like that.
They might come back at some point actually.
I want to do another exo-dumpling at some point.
It'll be like a take on a ravioli but it'll be a Japanese ravioli.
Yeah, I think that's what you were doing actually when I came in that day.
Maybe like crab with, like a typical crab beast but with some Japanese ingredients like
sake and soy sauce in the base of it and then pasta instead of gyoza pastry, fill the pasta
with some Chinese dumpling mix and then make a ravioli with a nice crab.
It's like really amazing fusion of different places, different cooking techniques, stars
cooking, this is awesome.
It's a place where we can really expand on to being fusion cooking.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's the way to go.
There's no need for us to feel like we have to be stapled in as a Japanese everything.
And that's what makes it exciting to come back.
Yeah, the Japanese is so open to different cuisines anyway so like chano and curry are
massive influences in Japanese cuisine.
So I use loads of Chinese different sauces and flavors to boost out some Japanese.
It's always got the base of things that usually sake and soy sauce.
It usually has cheeto or some other flavors like yuzu which I really like to use.
And then just pulling ideas from different places.
Lots of friends cooking, lots of Chinese dishes, lots of Korean dishes.
It's just an exciting way to cook.
Yeah, and then you sort of model that again through the cocktails and stuff as well.
I really like the cocktail offering there and stuff.
I think I find because we're trying to build out a sake range but it's quite hard to introduce
people to it because it's not cheap and then they've got to then educate their diner on
x, y and z sake and it's quite a risky venture but I think the way you incorporate it into
cocktails and lots of different things, I think that's the way to go.
And do you find being sort of, as a Japanese base, do you find finding influence in York
interesting or do you have to go further afield?
Because in York there's quite a decent colony scene here but I do think you guys are versus
other places we've been in century are that you guys kill.
So what's sort of helping you think outside the box in New York or does it not really
play a part?
Well at the minute I think we're still plugging at people who have already experienced some
cooking that I've done in the past and they almost wholeheartedly just letting us go for
it and they're coming and responding to it really well at the minute.
So it's really nice to have such a loyal customer base from previous ventures and they're just
constantly giving us the support we need to keep pushing and I think it's got organic
growth through a word of mouth.
I do feel like we're really having to convince people.
Yeah, oh no, no.
No, it's all through the whole style of what we're doing.
When you walk in I think it's immediately contemporary.
So you go, oh well, contemporary food, sit down, the food is contemporary and I think
it just works.
I don't think people are just responding to that immediately.
You find from a flavour perspective in terms of new dishes is there anything that sort
of influences you locally in York or are you going a bit further afield in terms of different
restaurants and what they're doing?
Or how does your mind kind of work for that?
Well, at the minute I'm obviously thinking about the seasons and stuff like that and
we're very lucky that Japanese vegetables and stuff grow in exactly the same climate
as others.
So we can really expand on our vegetables and offering to make it very close to Japanese
produce.
Obviously it's not going to be Japanese produce because you have to be there to have that.
But we are lucky in fact that we have good suppliers around very locally who can literally
tailor make our produce and grow what we want for us.
Which is kind of the next step for us who's going to be having a little plot where we
can start growing our vegetables.
That's definitely a way forward, mate.
Fantastic.
Really interesting.
It's really good, you know where it's coming from, you know the traceability of it's all
fantastic and it's catered to me and to you.
Yeah, and it's a journey as well for the diner.
I really like that.
I think that's a big thing.
Yeah, people like to know where the food's coming from, they like to know how it was
grown and I think it adds to the experience.
It shows people that we care about everything that we put on the plate.
And since doing this, such a great effort from where you were in terms of when I walked
in the building, I was still a villian.
What have been the challenges since your first three months in business?
Anything that you didn't expect or what's been interesting for you?
I think when we opened, and as soon as we opened it was trying to get the customers
to, because it was small plates, trying to get them to order the correct way of the dining
experience we wanted them to have.
So I guess that in a way that's why we opted in to do the chef's election because we found
that some of the customers weren't technically picking or choosing the dishes that we thought
would go well together.
So that was a bit of a challenge.
Getting the sackays as well at the start, that was difficult.
So we started off just with camp house, London Bay Sackay House and then we've found some
suppliers now so we've been able to get an extensive range on that.
And I guess getting some of the direction just of the bar, but now we've nailed it.
We've slowly got the drinks offering that we wanted, but it was a bit of a slobber and
it's beginning with getting the correct wines into how the Japanese foods that we were offering.
It's a tough mark because I've had cottage foods now nearly six years and I look back
at my fuck like some days and disaster.
But then the hospitality trade in the UK has always been steady away.
It's probably the worst thing ever with COVID and everyone knows about.
So it's kind of a ballsy time to open a restaurant, but I think from our experience looking at
the array of customers we deal with, what you guys are doing is the right move because
I think to open something a bit generic.
Yeah, you're fucked.
Without being very general there.
But I feel the Japanese vibe is here to stay as well.
If anything, we backed it two years ago or whatever in our range and that's really where
we're trying to just head.
Not exclusively, but now on and on.
Yeah, it's an interesting time to do it, definitely.
Yeah, I think it's always a risky time to open a restaurant no matter what time it is
and what time it is.
And hospitality is, in total, experienced hard.
Yeah.
Thankfully we've been doing it a little while now.
Yeah, you've got some good experiences behind it, a lot of learnings and stuff.
It's got to put in the dark in there.
Yeah.
And push out on that for what we do.
And within New York, what are the restaurants or what are the places you think you're doing
it quite well?
Or you take any inspiration from that or you shut us down, we're doing it our way and
that's it?
Yeah, it's kind of because I've got loads of influences I suppose, but none of them really
end up being like what we do, but it's just like some things that I like to completely
do at the restaurant, but I like the dishes that they're doing and then it's just making
it my way, so it fits our dining theme.
All the Michelin-style restaurants that I really have inspired me to cook in the first
base, they still inspire me now to come up with dishes.
But obviously I'm not going to be doing old school French classics in the restaurant,
but what I can take from that is some of the skills and some of the techniques that I use
and put that into my style of cooking.
And in terms of your super-gay-de-chefs behind you, have you brought an experience to that
or are you trying to teach them your way up?
We're a fresh team.
We've got one of the lads who we took on board from Wiles who used to work here before it
was a Zizekaya and he's learned from scratch, he's never touched Asian dishes like Japanese
dishes in his life.
Really experienced.
He doesn't really have anything to help him learn all these things, so he's jumped into
that whole heartedly.
And then I've got a lad who used to work at Spark, used to work a lot of different renders
in there.
He's always been milling around, but he's just really, really good at picking up things
really quickly.
And he's again, he's in the 20s and he's learning.
Because you're a very fresh team.
For the size of your kitchen upstairs you knock out.
I was amazed, the quality and the writing the speed at which he was coming out, you
know, such a high quality and well presented dish.
Talk about challenges, that's one of our challenges definitely.
About tiny kitchen.
Make a work though, bro.
It's hard to smash out hundreds of covers a week when you've got such a small kitchen.
Yeah, but I think with that in mind the way you were saying earlier, you get people in,
you get them to drink first and then go back.
You've kind of got that nice flow which helps manage kitchen output and stuff which is...
I think especially when we move on to the new chef selection which is going to be offered
on the evenings where it's more of a tasting menu kind of down an experience.
And that will simply be the back restaurant and the mid section.
Right.
Before we're on busy like Fridays and Saturdays we were having to use the front section as
well.
And now the front section when we decide to do this change and early to the match it
will just... this area will solely be for drunkers and basically potentially having
some snacks and things before you meet.
Nice.
The benefits of it, I hope definitely, however way how we've been doing it in the past because
it leaves the kitchen up a little bit so it's not so intense because people... all
of us are just coming through.
Let's find something after they're doing the kitchen.
So when we go into a tasting menu style, everyone will have a flow, it will feel nice, I think
it will be... the food will be coming down more refined, I think the guests will be looked
at to have better timings on the ten year olds.
So it's a really exciting part to start again from pushing forward because it was already
really good.
Yeah.
And now we've got a chance to make everything excellent I think.
Awesome.
That's a right approach.
So I think if you can drive that... see I'm really interested in your sort of landing
sake within York because I do think it's a fabulous drink and it's so varied.
I mean some of the stuff we've been looking at like some milk based sake and stuff.
But it's just... but speaking to people like yourselves, it's hard for us to go to somewhere
other customers who have no idea and try and sell them a milk based sake.
But it's an amazing drink but I think I'll just sit on the shelf.
So I think if... from a discovery perspective, if they're not akin to eating Japanese fusion
which well being real I don't think a lot of York's offered that bar what you did in
the past.
You know it's a whole new experience and it's a bit of a coming in with that open mind.
Yeah.
It's still a hard plug to try and get people on sake but people are slowly getting into
it.
Yeah.
And eventually we sure will be the place to come for one.
Oh yeah, especially the special one.
And hopefully people will think when they've got special occasions and stuff up to come
here for a sake because they're going to be selling things like sake flights so you can
experience it three different sake for once and you know building the place to come for
a new experience.
Yeah, absolutely.
I think that experience for me is the right word here because I think that's what I got
when I came and I think that's what you'll deliver.
Which I mean and you know I find it really interesting city to make a restaurant work
because you get so many tourists but then like one of my best friends lives in New York
and he's big foodie.
I love to see him and stuff.
You know but then I also feel Yorkers necessarily push the boundaries whereas you guys are and
I think that's really interesting to see where that goes.
Because I think you've got the market here as well.
Like I think consumers want to eat new stuff and it's like a mini London almost.
Yeah.
Well that's the thing as soon as a tourist come back as well like jamming in February
it has obviously been mainly targeting the locals.
Yeah.
It's been great to get our name out there because it's the people that we want to see
coming back time and time again.
Do you have a strategy for targeting tourists or is it just word of mouth?
How was that supposed to be?
Obviously the reviewing side so trying to get as many Google and TripAdvisor reviews as
possible and then we will be targeting them through.
We're trying to get into different guides as well.
Right.
So I understand it's just got way too long to come to you really.
So we're putting our names into them asking them to come but hopefully over the next six
months to a year we'll start seeing some of the guides come in and I think across we'll
get into them as well.
Yeah.
Well you're knocking out of the kitchen definitely.
I'd be super surprised if not.
Yeah.
No it's an interesting concept here.
I think with the tourist thing because you're getting that pass and trade and then people
travelling just for your food which is really cool.
We want people to travel for us.
We want to be booked up.
We want to be people to not rely too much on passing trade but just to be an influence
for a long time.
Yeah.
People click in, book in and be a special place you have to get into.
Yeah.
I mean that's what it is already in the weekend.
It's fully booked Friday.
It's not in a day of a weekend day where we're both in the open.
No.
It's amazing.
The beauty was it didn't feel packed on Saturday because it was busy all the tables were full
but it felt quite intimate as well which was nice.
Sometimes I think you can go somewhere and you really want your quality and it's like
cat marketing.
Yeah.
No, no, no it's awesome guys.
But yeah, anything else you want people to hear about or?
I guess just wait to just when we start promoting this new tasting menu.
The when it was launched.
It was the 8th of March.
Whatever the date is, the first one day of the week.
Yes, well first of March we will be doing the still the chef selection but with the
choice of still phasing out the alicante then from the 8th it will purely be.
Yeah, which is changing to the omakase.
So we do omakase bords at the moment but omakase is basically just a Japanese and
yeah, down the experience where you just leave the chef to.
Yeah, that's kind of your lunch section currently.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And we're just going to turn into more like our alacate for a minute so we're going to
have more choice at lunchtime.
So you can come get your karaki chicken, you can get your yakitori, you can get your
rice, all of its bits and bobs you want in and out, which is more suited to the diner
at the minute.
Yeah.
Because if people, we found if people are coming on an evening and they're just coming
to the yakitori at the bar and they're leaving, it doesn't really help us for our own hits
very well.
No.
We're just coming for a chicken stick and an abalone.
We can't really afford such a small restaurant to have 100 customers like that.
And I think it's.
At lunchtime we have all the freedom to do that.
It's good to introduce diners down the road, like the eel, you don't, I doubt a lot of
your average consumer's going to order it up, but it's fucking fire.
So, you know, it's, I think that way of not forcing a diner's hand, but you allow them
to experience everything.
Yeah.
You allow them to experience everything.
Yeah, because if the wanting to come on an evening for a more refined dining experience,
send them on the wanted, but again, as Danny was saying, if you want to experience a true
isakaya essentially then come for lunchtime or friend on the weekends.
Awesome.
Oh, great guys.
Well, listen, it's been lovely talking to you.
I know we're going to do some filming with you guys today.
It's part of our chef discovery.
Anything you want to hear at all, where they can hit you up or whatever.
Just remain on Instagram at the moment.
So it's isakaya.york and website is www.isakaya.york.co.uk and that's where you get a book to get
in on the eel as a lunch.
I'll make sure to write in the description with everything else.
Guys, listen, love your food.
Love you guys.
Been awesome working with you.
Yeah, look forward to see you all for the next 12 months.
Thanks very much.
Cheers guys.
Thanks for joining us today on this episode of Chef Life by Cottage Foods.
My name's Alastair.
I've been your host.
Hope you found it entertaining.
You can follow us on Instagram at cottagefoodltd.
Alternatively, you can look at our website, which is located at www.cottagefoodltd.com.
Thanks and see you soon.