In accepting his award at the annual FCSI meeting in Toronto, Ken Winch, who is FCSI's current president, described Yauatcha's owner, Alan Yau, as a "dream client" because he refuses to compromise on quality, "He has incredible standards and checks everything, right down to the handles on the door," said Winch, who has worked on the food service operations of such historic buildings as Windsor Castle, Buckinham Palace and Balmoral Castle (all residencies of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II), as well as the House of Commons.
Winch has won many awards and accolades, and his own attention to detail is legendary. "I'm a fussy bugger," he stated. "If someone has to have an exposed phone cable 10 years from now. I haven't done my job properly."
After only a few brief months of existance, Yauatcha, which has never advertised, is already listed in the 2005 edition of Top 100 Resuarants in London, and boasts 500 - 600 covers per day in a 109 seat restaurant.
The huge aquarium beside the tea room is a source of constant interst to patrons. The bar offers a range of teas, alcohol and reluctantly, cappuccino for java fans. (Yau at first resisted serving coffee but was convinced by Winch to do so.)
The Kitchen is a marvel of engineering. Fitting into this tight space of only 12,000 square feet, Winch has created three distinct work areas: a patiserrie baking and deep frying space; a dim sum centre with 21 openings for cheung fun, a special steaming process; and a stir-fry space with enormous, 18 inch woks.
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The FCSI presented its 2004 Award for Excellence in Design to Ken Winch, FCSI, (Ken Winch Design, located in Tonbridge, Kent, England) for his design of Yauatcha, an elegant, multi-level tea room and dim sum restaurant in London's trendy Soho area.
Yauatcha's name is derived from the owner's last name, Yau, and cha, which is the Chinese word for tea.
The cost for Yauatcha was $3.5 million, with about $675,000 in equipment costs. The result is a marvel of efficiency.
Ken Winch also designed Alan Yau's Hakkasan, Britain's first Michelin-starred Chinese restaurant and used lessons learnt there in the design of Yauatcha.
Conveniently situated in the Ingeni building, designed by famed British architect Richard Rogers in London's fashionable Soho district. The blue glass doors lead into a space of minimalist design but features some extraordinary flourishes such as the enormous aquarium that lines one whole wall. The lavishly tasteful interior design is by Christian Liagre of Paris
STOP PRESS
Yauatcha was recently awarded it's first Michelin star
Article by Liz Campbell
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Patisserie at Yauatcha are prepared in the french style with a small Oriental twist.
There are no brick walls in the kitchen so Winch had absolute control over where the stainless-steel dividers would lie and be perfectly square and plumb. Working here are up to 20 staff, and the space between counters can be as small as 800mm in the stir-fry area. The efficiency of the operation is breathtaking. As upstairs, the kitchen is behind huge four-leaf clovers of opaque glass so the activity and bustle is visible to the guests.
The coolers and fridges work of a central-pack refrigeration system with a series of three, interconnected condensing units. "We designed them to do 120 percent of total duty," says Winch, allowing for expansion. At night only one unit operates. The system saves energy and more importantly, space. All the socket outlets, telephone and date lines are built into the location. "We used every millimetre of space," he says, "Nothing is wasted." In order to do this, many of the stainless-steel fittings had to be hand-fabricated so there were no standard prices.
The kitchen floor had to be raised for drainage purposes. Cabinet doors hide control panels. A stainless steel ceiling, only seven feet high, has ventilation and uses ultra violet light to eliminate grease. A water treatment system provides softened water by reverse osmosis for the steamers.
"I care enormously for the staff working here," says Winch, "We can't have them working in crazy working conditions."
Winch is currently working on another project, a whole new concept, with Alan Yau, for whom he has developed a deep respect, "Everything I design he challenges," says Winch, "but he won't open the restaurant unless it's exactly right." He feels the same way. "We have only one shot at achieving excellence," he says, and adds, pointing to the chefs, "They have to produce excellence every day here, and I have to make it possible."
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