A 30-year-old mechanical engineer Romanian originating from Brașov is the chef of the newest Japanese restaurant in London. Alex Crăciun was chosen by Jason Atherton to head the kitchen at Sosharu, one of London’s promising highest-profile restaurants, which opens in London’s Clerkenwell on March 7.
The Japanese restaurant is part of a famous chain already present in Sydney, New York, Dubai, Shanghai, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Alex Crăciun has an extremely interesting story. He is actually a mechanical engineer and he went in for gastronomy about ten years ago when he moved from Brașov to Newcastle, some 300 miles (480 kilometers) north of London.
“It was terrible. It was a mess and I didn’t speak the language, or at least didn’t really understand it. Though I did my best, it was really hard. But they promoted me. After five months I was in charge of the kitchen (…) Being new in the country gives you that motivation and you want to work more, and that is how everything started. If I had gone somewhere else, like a Michelin-star restaurant, it would have been totally different because I’d have been just pushed back and scared. But I knew I could do better food than them, and it gave me confidence,” said Alex, as quoted by Bloomberg.
The Romanian chef first discovered the Japanese cuisine at Maze, where Atherton served an eclectic menu of tapas-sized dishes that incorporated Asian ingredients. After working for Maze for three years, Crăciun decided to go directly to the source, meaning in Japan to have a closer insight on the secrets of this special cuisine. He used to run from one restaurant to another, working anywhere he could. At the famous RyuGin, he simply turned up and stood outside the door, returning each day until he was allowed to enter the kitchen.jaso
To lead the new Susharu restaurant Craciun moved to Japan and spent a year at the Kyoto Culinary School. He worked at Kikunoi in Kyoto under Chef Yoshihiro Murata, as well as at RyuGin, under Seiji Yamamoto, in Tokyo and Hong Kong.
So, challenging tasks lie ahead Alex, who confesses that, although homesick doesn’t avoid him, he doesn’t intend to go back to Romania. “When I left home, I said I am going away for one year,” he says. Nine years later, “I miss my mum and dad, my brother, my family, and I try to go very year to see them at Christmas time. But I don’t want to move back.”
Sosharu is located on the ground floor of the new Turnmill Building, with a 40-cover cocktail bar Seven Tales in the basement. The style is that of an izakaya, a casual restaurant similar to a pub, with the focus on flavor over sophistication. Dishes range from GBP 6 (USD 8.40) to GBP 26, and dinner is likely to run anywhere from GBP 40 to GBP 60 per person, before drinks. I haven’t yet tried the food.