David Adamson talks with the chef patron of the Bridge Street restaurant
Six months on from opening KAJI, Chef Patron Steven Smith spoke with Confidentials about setting up in the city, getting primitive and his hopes for KAJI.
David (D): So, Steven, how have the first six months of KAJI been?
Steven (S): Absolutely superb. Things are going exactly in the direction that I wanted them to go, we’re going from strength to strength, and people are getting to understand what KAJI is about. We’re getting regulars, new regulars, and we’re getting a lot of my old regulars as well, which has been absolutely fantastic.
It's been very humbling, from my point of view, to see how well ‘Steven Smith’ actually traveled after all those years in the Ribble Valley. It's been amazing how many people have dined many, many times at the Freemasons, and have now come here on the back of it, which has been super.
Now I’m here and I'm doing an exceptional thing, just like we used to do at the Freemasons. It’s just in a different setting and with a slightly different cuisine, but still at that very high level that I've become synonymous with.
D: I guess people can maybe think that the Ribble Valley is miles away from Manchester but really, it's not at all. It's all part of a wider region of culinary excellence.
S: People come into Manchester all the time from further afield, or they work here or come and shop here, so this is the perfect backdrop and location for them to come and find me and find out about KAJI and what we do, because we've got a fantastic team here as well.
D: Obviously you're on Bridge Street, one of these great city centre streets just off Deansgate. How are you finding the experience of running a city restaurant and being in amongst it?
S: There’s a bit more hustle and bustle, and the clientele varies massively which has been nice, with everything from 18 or 19 year olds up to people in their 80s and everything in between. Obviously the social media life and that type of thing is a lot more prominent here so that's something that I've had to embrace a lot more and deliver things that are still what you’d expect of Steven Smith and KAJI, but also a bit instagrammy, if you like.
That would never be the case in the countryside as such, but then there’s thousands of customers here, so we’re trying to tap into that. I think that's the difference. In the countryside you have a massive hardcore who come time and time again, whereas here we've got to keep impressing people in a different way.
D: And I guess what you're wanting is to replicate that same thing in the city, and to have those hardcore regulars.
S: 100%. If I can have as many regulars as I used to have, with new visitors on top, then I’ll be very happy. We've had a massive success with the Scandinavian market so far, where they've come in because they've heard about us and are massive foodies who love their wine, and they come in and it has a knock-on effect.
We've got two massive football clubs with people coming from all over the world to visit, and generally those people are into their food and have got a little bit of money to come and enjoy beautiful restaurants like this.
D: And do you feel that the offering and the variety of menus that you have here lends itself to that?
S: Absolutely. I’ve always stuck to the principle that, for me, a truly great restaurant is somewhere you can visit five times a week. Now I know nobody's going to visit five times a week. But I’ve had customers who’ve visited three or four times a week and there’s something for each of those times.
They might come on a Tuesday to an event like the tuna cutting. Then they’re out and about on a Wednesday night so have a quick tea on the £30 early supper menu. They pop back Thursday for a little bit of sushi and a great glass of wine. Friday night it’s steak and chips and a beautiful bottle of red with their mates. And then Saturday night, bring their partner out and have the fantastic taster menu and the full experience. And then we have a great roast on a Sunday. That's the package; it's a restaurant for everybody. We take everything we do very seriously but it’s very accessible and we have a bit of fun along the way.
D: Maybe the most exciting element at the centre of this is the fire-based cooking, and how you use this method, so tell me why you chose to do that and what you think people can enjoy about it?
S: The natural flavours off everything. Whether it be a piece of fish, a piece of meat, venison, the sauces and the broths that we make. Whatever it may be, everything is touched by that fire, and it's that sort of caveman mentality.
Everyone in this country, as soon as there's a little bit of sun, what do they do? They have a barbecue. We love it. And we love those flavours. Obviously here we still have that Japanese and Asian world influence, and I think that's important because we are a world influenced restaurant, and the barbecue just lends itself to that. It’s simple flavour.
D: I guess it can be quite nice to return to something quite primitive; to take your skills - which everyone knows you’ve become very accomplished with - and turn them to something as simple as cooking on fire. How is that for you?
S: It tests the senses. It tests everything that you do. Cooking had become quite boring in a way, as in things become too easy for you with things like water baths, poaching this at this temperature for this amount of time. As nice as that is - and from a consistency point of view it’s fantastic - if you can replicate that on fire, then you're onto a winner. So it tests us, and it tests the skills of the chefs, but the end results, well, they're there to be seen.
D: So then using that different method and the different styles that you bring in here, how is it making up a tasting menu with those sorts of methods? Is that something you've enjoyed putting together?
S: When it comes to the offering of KAJI - not that I want to bang on too much about tastings as such, because there's so much more to what we do - I truly believe we've created a unique, almost original dining experience.
Because you come in here, you start with sushi - sashimi, nigiris, a beautiful Tamaki roll - and then you move into the hot kitchen with the snacks and bread and broth, beautiful vegetables, a beautiful piece of fish, a great piece of meat, everything that’s used is cooked in season, and then finish with a lovely dessert. It's a very KAJI experience, and I think that's second to none, and unique to the city. I think that's the thing, it's not like anywhere else.
D: So that's one side of the offering, and the other - a £30 lunch and early evening menu - seems like a bit of a steal, really. What is it of your experience that you’ve brought into making that menu?
S: Well you're not coming for a substandard lunch menu just because it's £30. The way that I see it is, when people are out and about on their lunch time, it doesn't matter where you are, everyone wants great value, and that is great value. So I would say it's our shop window.
So if you are out there and you're thinking, I quite fancy trying KAJI but I'm not sure, well that's a great opportunity to come and do that. So you can come for the lunch and early supper, eat great value, and off you go. You can either spend the evening with us, or you can come and use it as a pre-theatre or pre-concert dinner, and that is happening.
Because ultimately you’ve spent £250 on your tickets, you're going to spend some more on the bars at the arenas, for instance, so you can come here before and you've had a great night out. So we want to be part of that experience and part of your day. And that's what that menu does; it’s very accessible for everybody.
D: And quite literally accessible because you are sort of equidistant between the AO Arena and the likes of the Royal Exchange or the Bridgewater Hall. I always find it a pain when I've got somewhere to be at 7.30pm, and I think, well, I need to eat, but I’m not sure where to go.
S: Well, I think you've just answered it there - it's the KAJI £30 lunch and early supper menu isn’t it? You know you're going to eat great and you know we're going to deliver it in a time scale that suits you and your day.
D: So finally then, what are you looking forward to in the next six months?
S: Just carrying on the journey of what we've done. We’re about 2% into the journey of where we want to be. So it's now just about making us a household man and refining our product. And then obviously we've got more things to come; we've got the downstairs level that will be out there sooner than you think - so again, watch this space - and with it lots of very exciting things.
Hopefully, in ten years’ time, we’ll be a Manchester staple, with everyone saying ‘Bloody hell, how fantastic is KAJI?’, and that's why I say we’re 2% into where we want to be. There’s lots more to come. Lots, lots more to come. We’ve made a few key appointments these last few months with key staff - people who have worked for myself in the past who are very trusted - so that's going to, again, start bringing new elements and we can really push KAJI forward. I said to myself, we have such a great product now but, wow, what product could we make it?
For KAJI’s menus and opening times, and to book a table, visit the KAJI website.
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