Mr Lyan’s Restaurant Cub Will Permanently Close on Hoxton Street | Eater London

"Opened in autumn 2017 by multi-award-winning bartender Ryan Chetiyawardana with chef Doug McMaster and Dr Arielle Johnson, this 35-cover restaurant-bar permanently closed after lockdown when one-metre social distancing made the small space untenable. The project was explicitly designed to challenge conventional food systems: McMaster led a modern, chef-driven approach to minimising waste through reuse, upcycling and intercepting energy otherwise spent on recycling, while Dr Johnson brought research experience from Noma and the MAD Symposium. Safety concerns around experimenting with some ‘weirder’ ingredients, the venue’s niche, destination nature as the group’s first full food offering, and the ill-timed economic hit from Covid—compounded by a perceived lack of governmental engagement on food and drink stability—left continued operation impractical. Four full-time staff were made redundant but the owners have tried to help reassign them (McMaster offered roles at his London project), and the founders expressed hope that the restaurant’s principles—empowerment, re-shaping value and luxury, human and ecological sustainability, and using food, drink, music and community to bring happiness—can persist in future work." - Adam Coghlan