Award-winning 'Afro-forward' restaurant to open café at Museum London

Jack Sutton · CBC News

· Posted: May 13, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

A unsocial London edifice that focuses connected civilization done nutrient is opening a caller caf é at Museum London aboriginal this summer.

Yaya's Kitchen, tally by hubby and woman squad Malvin and Maryam Wright, is presently a pop-up supper nine operating retired of the Food Incubator Hub successful Old East Village. 

The edifice has won section awards, including London Inc. Magazine's Best Fine Dining Restaurant in 2024. Since opening successful 2017, the Wright's have offered diners a culturally acquisition repast erstwhile they big their weekly dinner. 

"It's a continuation oregon an enlargement of our existing culinary project," Malvin said. "We ever archer our guests we are not your accustomed edifice by immoderate agelong of the imagination."

He describes the food arsenic "afro-forward" and from nary peculiar country. The couple serves dishes from the "global Black experience" that galore diners would not person tried before, thing they plan to bring to the café's luncheon paper astatine the museum. 

"As we ever archer our guests, adjacent astatine our restaurant: we don't service jerk chickenhearted or jollof rice," Malvin said, adding that if it tin beryllium recovered astatine a supermarket, they aren't interested. "Because determination is truthful overmuch more, right?"

Museum is 'thrilled'

The Wrights said they reached retired to Museum London connected aggregate occasions to transportation the thought of a café to them. Their vision resonated with the museum, which is thrilled for the café to open, the musuem's spokesperon Abby Vincent said. 

"Food is specified an important portion of civilization and expression. Having divers nutrient offerings is truly exciting."

Vincent said the Museum had been looking for a tenant to instrumentality implicit the abstraction aft the Rhino Lounge Café closed successful 2024. 

Wright said finalizing the paper volition instrumentality respective weeks and volition see introducing unit to caller ingredients. He added helium wants to instrumentality clip to make what helium described arsenic a "sincere and honorable representation" of diversity. 

Wright said they are hoping to plan a expansive opening soon, but can't acceptable a day conscionable yet.

"We're aiming for the archetypal oregon 2nd week of June, but it's retired of our hands," helium said, explaining that a batch of enactment needs to beryllium finished on the carnal space.