Lao Café to open permanent London site
The team behind London restaurant group Rosa's Thai Cafe will be opening a permanent Lao Café near Covent Garden later this year.
The news follows a successful pop-up at the Gillingham Street site in Victoria in 2015, which has since been transformed into a Rosa's Thai Café restaurant.
Set to open in late 2016, the 60-cover restaurant will be spread across two floors and will occupy the site at 60 Chandos Place.
Co-founder Saiphin Moore (pictured), who was born in Thailand to native Lao parents, will draw on her upbringing to serve a range of traditional Lao salads, curries and chargrilled dishes.
The menu will include some dishes served at the pop-up as well as a selection of new creations.
Moore said: "Although my family migrated to Thailand from Laos, they did not abandon the traditional food and cooking methods.
"These recipes have been in my family as long as I can remember. This restaurant will celebrate my love for Laotian cuisine with every dish reflecting a specific memory from growing up in the countryside - from cooking meat over a charcoal grill to mixing salads with a wooden pestle and mortar."
Designed in collaboration with hospitality agency Rebel Hospitality, the restaurant will feature furniture and artwork collected by Moore.
The centrepiece of the interior will be a modern mural based on an old family photograph from her childhood interpreted by graffiti artist Mr Cenz.
Rosa's started life as a single market stall on Brick Lane, in the East End of London in 2006.
The group now has seven permanent sites in Spitalfields, Soho, Westfield Stratford, Carnaby, Chelsea, Angel and Victoria.
A site in Brixton is expected to open in November.
Minute on the clock: Saiphin Moore >>
