As more and more Londoners end up eating lunch al desko we're seeing a similar rise in new openings targeting people who want to eat well, but on the hoof. In addition to the whole street food scene, there's Kêu! over on Old Street with its banh mi and yoobi in Soho - London's first temakaria.
The newest addition to this bunch is yaki - a Japanese bakery due to open officially in August on Goodge Street (although they are ostensibly up and running right now). One of the owners is Japanese, but has lived in London for years. As he explained to Hot Dinners yaki's purpose is to expand the range of affordable, healthy Japanese food on offer to Londoners.
The main dish they'll be offering is Okonomiyaki, okonomi means ‘as you like’ and yaki which means cooked. It's the Japanese version of a savoury pancake and made with cabbage, egg, a variety of vegetables, flour and a selection of meat and vegetable fillings. The okonomiyaki are made freshly every day on the premises, and better still each okonomiyaki is only around 200 calories.
Also on the menu will be takoyaki, an Osaka dish, which is a ball of okonomiyaki mix with a small piece of octopus (tako) inside. This will be baked rather than fried as is traditional. There'll also be rice burgers with patties of rice rather than a bread bun around a layer of veg and a choice of either gyu-don (beef) or chicken teriyaki. Side dishes will range from Japanese style croquettes to a range of healthy salads, such as their healthy samurai salad made up of red onions, seaweed, edamame and tomato.
And while all this sounds pretty marvellous, the yaki folk have obviously researched their market well and will be offering local media types with sore heads a breakfast Japanese style wraps of bacon and salad wrap topped off with a Japanese brown sauce or a wasabi and ham wrap to kickstart their mornings with.
Still to come - as they're working on perfecting the recipe - will be taiyaki, a fish shaped waffle that can be made with a filling of your choice. They're currently experimenting with fillings such as cabbage and bacon, ham and cheese and - wait for it - edamame chocolate and azuki cheese.
yaki is expected to open late August at 53 Goodge Street, Fitzrovia, W1T 1TG
