Quick Facts
Biography
Alan Yau (Chinese: 丘德威; Cantonese Yale: Yau1 Dak1 Wai1), OBE (born 1962, Hong Kong) is a London-based restaurateur who is best known for founding the Wagamama food chain in the United Kingdom. A Hakka, he was born in Sha Tau Kok, Hong Kong and moved to King's Lynn, Norfolk at the age of 12 with his family, barely able to speak a word of English.
Alan Yau was awarded the OBE in the 2006 New Year Honour's List for services to the restaurant industry.
Alan Yau is also the man behind the leading London Chinese restaurants Hakkasan and Yauatcha, which have each been awarded a Michelin Star.
In April 2008, the British magazine Restaurant unveiled its sixth annual global ranking of the 50 Best Restaurants in which Hakkasan was rated 18th.
In April 2009, Yau made his U.S. debut with the opening of Hakkasan in the Fontainebleau in Miami Beach, Florida.
Yau had previously tried to make his U.S. debut in 2006 at New York's Gramercy Park Hotel, Park Chinois, but didn't due to external pressures.
His famous Chinese chains Hakkasan and Yauatcha debuted in Mumbai, India in 2011.
In August 2013, Yau collaborated with Swire Hotels as creative director for a new Peking duck restaurant called Jing Yaa Tangat The Opposite House in Beijing. It is Yau’s first project in mainland China.
In 2014, Alan Yau collaborated with Monaco Restaurant Group of Giraudi and opened Song Qi, a gastronomic Chinese restaurant in Monaco.
Alan Yau is also a director of Thai restaurant Busaba Eathai, which has 11 branches in London. His other projects include a Chinese noodle bar named Cha Cha Moon, which opened in mid-2008, Princi London, in collaboration with Rocco Princi, and more recently Babaji Pide Salonu, an Istanbul Pide Salonu. Recent projects include The Duck and Rice English pub with a Chinese kitchen and Park Chinois dinner and dancing. Yau also served as consultant on the Japanese restaurant Sake no Hana in St James, London.