Cool Spaces: YU Restaurant

WORDS Lindi Brownell Meiring IMAGES Grant McPherson

A slick new tapas restaurant and bar designed by Yaniv Chen and Leigh Finck of Master Studio has opened its doors on the Foreshore in Cape Town.

Located on the ground floor of the new Onyx Hotel, YU (which in Japanese alludes to the idea of excellence) specialises in Asian cuisine, with a menu offering the likes of beef short rib bao, prawn and butternut dim sum and soft shell crab with sesame mayo. Drinks include Japanese craft beers, sake and cocktails showcasing flavours like soju and yuzu.

The interiors combine rich, dark velvet, timber and low lighting, creating a warm, inviting space.

“We wanted to recreate the juxtaposition between imperfection and luxury,” says the Master Studio team, who made use of interesting textures throughout the space, as well as Japanese matchbox art and a large-scale mural by Cape Town-based Norwegian artist Oda Tungodden.

YU, located at 57 Heerengracht Street at The Onyx Hotel in Cape Town, is open Monday to Saturday from 12pm until 11pm. For more information, email yu@theonyx.co.za or like YU on Facebook.