Sunda Kitchen to open at former Wahlburgers site

Casual dining South-East Asian concept Sunda Kitchen is to open in London’s Covent Garden tomorrow at the former Wahlburgers site.

The site will run for four months before moving onto a permanent site early next year, to be confirmed. Wahlburgers' only UK site closed in 2020 after being hit by the pandemic.

The team behind Sunda Kitchen is made up of Jamie Younger, director of the Begging Bowl in Peckham; Phil Sutton, owner of the Perry Hill Pub in Catford; and Adam Papa, co-owner of Happiness Forgets in Shoreditch.

Named after the tectonic plate that joins most of South-East Asian, the restaurant’s menu will be inspired by Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia, with dishes designed to share in a casual, relaxed setting.

Head chef Charles Lee will run the kitchen, having previously worked as a consulting head chef at Robata in Soho and Jinjuu. The menu will include saw dishes such as salmon and avocado taki taki style and beef tomato tiradito; small plates like lemongrass fried chicken and Vietnamese jellyfish salad; and mains including Malaysian red chicken curry and whole fried sea bass.

Cocktails will include a Thai negroni (lemongrass gin, coconut campari, sweet vermouth) and spicy mojito (rum, mint, citrus, herbal liqueur, soda, chilli) as well as slushies including lychee daiquiri, Vietnamese iced coffee and Sunda colada.

Papa said: “Sunda Kitchen is a relaxed, accessible eatery that has something for everyone, whether you’re looking for a quick after work drink, midweek lunch or cocktail with some tasty sharing plates.”