The original Kurobuta pop-up may be moving to new, spacious, permanent premises, but that doesn't mean there aren't big plans for the original site of the pop-up. Scott Hallsworth is revamping the whole thing with the brand new Joe's Oriental Diner - where they'll be cooking up a pan-Asian menu.
It'll be a more back to basics approach than both of the Kurobutas with the food will include Fire Cracker Chicken, Crunchy Sweet and Sour Fish, Coconut Short-rib Rendang, Slow Cooked Duck Red Curry with Lychees and Barbequed Scallops with Tamarind Ketchup and Sambal. For drinks there will be frosted beer tankards ‘Frosties’, Chinatown teapot cocktails and "evil and obscure spirits and libations". The place itself seats 38 has a secret upstairs ‘Den’ upstairs that seats up to 26 more.
We caught up with Hallsworth to find out more...
What will be the difference between the Diner and Kurobuta experiences?
First of all there is the type of food. Joe's will be full-on South East Asian, no Japanese at all. The other thing is that Kurobuta, for whatever reason, became more polished (as an all round proposition) than I envisaged. We can't go and tinker with that too much now but with Joe's we will keep things simpler. If Kurobuta at 251 was a good house party then Joe's is gonna be a mosh pit.
What else can we expect from the menu?
Sour Thai sausages, crispy duck served on the bone with honey-hoisin, rare BBQ steak salad with nam prik, son in laws eggs, wood oven roasted scallops with chilli jam, fried chicken with nam jim.
And drinks?
The list will be limited with guests wines, icy Asian beers and strong cocktails, often served in teapots. Joe himself snuck whisky into soy sauce bottles back in the day just so he could keep topped up all day long, we should do a boozy tribute to that.
And with Joe's Oriental Diner taking over the space from the first Kurobuta - how will the look of the original space change?
The inherent charm will remain. We will slap some paint around here and there. What I have in mind is some kind of back alley, port side, dive-bar. Have a listen to the song Singapore by Tom Waits and see what image that conjures up, for me it's the inspiration behind the decor, and any weirdness the ensues.
Joe's Oriental Diner opens at 251 King's Road, Chelsea, SW3 5EL on 6 March 2015. For more information, folllow them on Twitter @joeslondon
