In April 2007, I signed off a Metro review of the high concept pan-Asian restaurant Haiku by saying “I can’t imagine there were many people yearning to eat dinky portions of prawn tom yum and lamb rogan josh at the same meal before the restaurant opened and I don’t think many will regret missing the chance when it inevitably closes.” Just over a year, and a reported £3m investment later Haiku served its last portions of pad Thai, Peking duck and chicken Yakitori.

With such a recent and expensive lesson from history to learn from, I was surprised to hear about another high concept opening in the capital; Hong Kong based group Aqua have launched an opulent Japanese/Spanish restaurant in the former Dickens and Jones building in Regents Street, yards from the late and unlamented Haiku.

In theory, the multi-million pound investment required to open the 17,000 sq ft site will be recouped by packing the place out to its 300 cover capacity and extracting a £60 average spend per head from the hoards of merry punters keen to forget the recession for a few hours over a plate or two of sushi or tapas. Early critical response, including a report by the Harden’s guide of near empty dining rooms at lunchtime however seems to suggest otherwise.

Perhaps the London dining public won’t share my cynicism about a single operator who is neither Japanese nor Spanish (the man behind Aqua is British born Chinese David Yeo) being able to produce both cuisines to a high enough standard and degree of authenticity to warrant that sort of bill. After all, they’ll probably have read that Yeo runs a successful international group of restaurants, some of which mix several cuisines under one roof in a similar way to the London Aqua.

And there are also plenty of other examples of apparently nutty ideas becoming big success against the odds. Japanese/Peruvian fusion food anyone? Well, yes actually if the jaw dropping worldwide success of Nobu is anything to go by. Art gallery/nightclub/brasserie/fine dining restaurant and tea room all in the same building? Its a resounding thumbs up for the regularly packed Sketch in Mayfair.

But there’s only one restaurant concept that’s guaranteed to work; great food, great service, great atmosphere. Its a formula that doesn’t need tinkering with and could save you millions if you stick to it. Mark Hix, who spent approximately tuppence opening his Oyster and Chophouse in Farringdon and not much more on Hix in Soho is a prime example of how to succeed by keeping things simple.

“Some people spend millions on re-fits and six months later have an empty restaurant. We spent bugger all in the big scheme of things,” Hix told me back in 2008 just after he’d opened the Chophouse.

It helps of course if you can pick up recently refurbished premises for a song and decorate your dining rooms with pieces of modern art from your Young British Artist chums in return for a meal or two on the house. But its a sound philosophy that can be followed even by less well connected operators.

I hope Aqua will be a huge success, if only for the sake of the employees and investors. But I also hope that in future, restaurateurs will concentrate on the basics and not be seduced into cooking up cockeyed culinary concepts.

Source: Big Hospitality