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Young fashion restaurant Kinkally opened in London on December 15, 2023 and has already made it into Micheline’s famous guide. Located in the center of London, at 43 Charlotte Street, the institution was founded by entrepreneurs Diana and Alexander Milicki – who, by the way, can often be found in the halls of Kinkally while interacting with guests.
Kitchen
The menu, based on the concept of small plates and inspired by Georgia, was developed by Georgian chef David Chelidze, who has previously been recognized by Micheline Guide while heading the Hedonist restaurant in Moscow.
“What strikes me most about David is how he adapts and yet sustains his vision of cuisine for the London public. We get a very diverse range of guests – Brits, Europeans, Russians, Ukrainians, Americans, Georgians and other visitors from all over the world. Many of them become regular customers,” says Diana.
When asked why the menu is “inspired by Georgia” and not traditional Georgian cuisine, the founder of the project explained: “The answer is simple – there is traditional Georgian cuisine in London, but there is no modern author’s reading of it. Thanks to the principle of small plates we give guests the opportunity to try different dishes during the evening – 3-4 per person. This, of course, is a big risk, because in Georgian cuisine traditionally large portions and usually, after eating 3 khinkali and a couple of pieces of khachapuri, it is already difficult to breathe and you can go on a week-long diet – laughs Diana – sometimes we get 2 stars in Google just for such discrepancies in expectations. But we also hear a huge amount of gratitude, including from guests from Georgia, who appreciate that our restaurant gives an opportunity to get acquainted with their national cuisine in a modern format and to such a large number of people. Our goal is to lift the screen of this beautiful country, its gastronomy and to interest those who have never heard of or had no time to get acquainted with Georgian flavor. And since we have recently been included in the Micheline guide, we seem to be succeeding!”.
The founder of the project noted that hinkali with wagyu and khinkali with langoustines are especially popular in the menu, but the absolute “favorite” of the guests was the position “Baked Aubergine in satsebeli sauce withvanilla infused matsoni and Svanetian salt”.
Design
The restaurant was designed by Da Bureau, an architectural firm. It is based on the principles of minimalism, “purity” of space, use of natural materials – wood, metal and concrete – which symbolize the city and at the same time refer to the mountains and monumental nature of Georgia. An important task was to create a unified ideological concept of the interior and author’s cuisine Kinkally.
“Our concept can be called ‘coexistence of Georgia and Asia’. “Why Asia?” – you ask. The thing is that originally dumpling-type dishes or dumplings originated in China, and we decided to bring these origins into the design concept of the institution. The result is a space in which brutal and nature-inspired Georgia is combined with geometric and refined Asia,” Diana continues to share.
Bar Kinky
Bar Kinky, which is located on the lower floor of the restaurant, is a separate independent project. Its interior is styled as a futuristic metal capsule, complete with a metal, wood and terrazzo tile bar, and a light installation with shimmering bright orange and purple colors.
“The bar is not just a stand-alone element, but a separate love – it has its own strategy, goals and program. As the London public usually prefers upper floors to lower floors, our challenge was to create a space you can’t walk past and want to stay in. Expolight’s lighting throughout the space played a huge part in the design, and the wow effect that resulted makes you at least want to take a photo, and at most want to come back to the bar after dinner and come back again and again,” says Diana.
Based on such criteria as glass selection, transparency, premium products, concept, naturalness and others, the cocktail list was developed in several stages by Andrei Prutskikh, who previously worked on many Lucky Group projects in Moscow. All Bar Kinky cocktails are an immersion into a certain expirience – their names are chosen not by chance, and each drink has its own legend (history), with which the guests are introduced by Andrey and Rinat – barmen of the facility.
Summary
The restaurant has a truly family atmosphere, which the project team creates by paying attention to every detail – from the conceptual approach in the kitchen to the equally ideological interior and attentive service. And the “experience” that begins with the first word Kinkally upon entering stays with the guest even after they leave the establishment.
