The long-awaited sister to Newcastle favourites, Nagisa and Susuru, has opened on the Newcastle eating strip of Honeysuckle Drive. Âpé Yakitori Bar (pronounced ah-pay) is the new legacy for the Nagisa crew, and is located right next door to offer a more casual bar environment. The design is chic and industrial, with raw concrete roofing, enormous stretched canvas lights, pineapple leather banquette seating and walls insulated with panels of mushroom fibre (which have finally arrived after a long and head-scratching hold in customs).
A backbar of dozens of rare whiskeys from Japan and around the world offer a very promising start to a fun afternoon, but the jewel in the crown at Âpé is the open kitchen where you'll see chefs deftly turning and tending to yakitori skewers of grilled organic chicken thighs in tare sauce; sweet and plump scallops swimming in butter sauce; and aged Hunter Valley lamb with a subtle and smooth chimichurri — a throwback by Chilean-born head chef Nicolas Pedemonte. Naturally, there are outdoor seats to take advantage of the waterfront locale but we're putting our hands up for the yakitori bench to take advantage of the full theatre of the the kitchen. Cooking solely over charcoal (with the exception of a couple of sauces and sides) illustrates the ambition of Âpé, which means 'fire' in the Ainu language - the indigenous people of Hokkaido and the northern islands of Japan.
"There is nowhere to hide with yakitori, there's no dressing it up or down," explains part-owner Taiyo Namba, who you'll likely see with a wine glass in hand as he chats enthusiastically and with good humour. "I found a PHD written about the Ainu people and it was based on fire being at the centre of their culture and fire considered a god... fire was at the heart of their existence, it's where you did your cooking, it kept you warm, it protected your family and it was never turned off." This warmth and obsessive attention to quality, local, and sustainable produce is the secret to Namba and his family's success, as they finally welcome the long-awaited third restaurant to their clan.