Benihana Piccadilly closes after 27 years of trading

Teppanyaki restaurant Benihana in London's Piccadilly has closed after more than 27 years of trading.

The final service was on 10 October and the restaurant will move to a new home in Maiden Lane in Covent Garden in spring 2022.

Benihana will retain the Piccadilly team throughout the closure, with many expected to move to its sister site on King's Road in Chelsea.

The first Benihana restaurant was opened in New York City in 1964 by Hiroaki 'Rocky' Aoki and it began offering its theatrical dining experience in Piccadilly in 1994.

Managing director Jason Wischhoff said Benihana International had "multiple" UK restaurants in the pipeline. However, the group's UK expansion appeared to stall when its first Scottish restaurant in Glasgow closed in 2019 after less than a year of trading.

Benihana International has continued to grow throughout the pandemic, and 2020 saw the signing of the largest Benihana in the world at Niagara Falls in Canada, and a restaurant at a new development in Qatar.