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The Copenhagen-born brand, famous for pairing Japanese sushi and kushi-yaki, better know as yakitori with Danish design and traditions, has chosen George Square as the location of its first Scottish restaurant. I spoke with Andreas Karlsson, CEO of the hospitality group, to find out how a small family venture grew into one of Europe’s most distinctive dining names. “For me to double my chances to succeed in opening up a restaurant in Scotland, I looked at both Edinburgh as well as Glasgow,” Karlsson explains. “I wanted to understand the opportunities in both, feel the pulse, consider the real estate perspective as well. My attention was drawn more to Glasgow, so that’s where we will start, but we are hoping to have more to come after this in Scotland.” Andreas is Swedish and joined the Danish business when it was expanding into the UK: “We established ourselves in London and the Southeast but we have always had a desire to go up to Scotland. We looked at a number of locations and this particular one on George Square, it was a very attractive building. It’s not a space where there is a big neon sign hanging outside. It’s not very loud, it’s understated and what we can create is a world of discovery for the guests in Glasgow to come and visit us. Glasgow will be our first Viking flag in Scotland, and we will make some new friends” he laughs. The story of Sticks’n’Sushi is as international as its menu. “In the fifties a Japanese lady called Keiko, went as an exchange student to Scandinavia, which was an unusual thing to do at the time” Andreas explains. “She went to Copenhagen, ran into a tall, handsome Danish man, then eventually called home to say, ‘I have found the love of my life.’” Two of Keiko’s sons, Kim and Jens Rahbek, would go on to found Sticks’n’Sushi in 1994 with their brother-in-law Thor Andersen, blending their Japanese and Danish heritage. “Jens was a chef, he worked in Japan for eight years, he was a yakitori chef working in a hot kitchen cooking with skewers, so that’s where the sticks comes from in the name. Now, back in the mid-90s, there was no internet to research cuisines and this type of food was totally new to Copenhagen back then. It was actually Keiko who said they should add sushi to the menu to double their chances to succeed. That mix of the izakaya style skewers with the elegant sushi kitchen is not common in Japan at all. “It worked and from that first tiny Copenhagen location it became a pretty good success. They scraped together the money they had to open then saved enough to open a second then kept going. Every single restaurant we have opened is still open - we have a hundred percent track record to date. "It was a brave leap of faith for a small family owned business to open in the UK. And then the family sold a little bit of the shareholding to a local investor in Denmark who then helped to grow further. In the middle of this we had the bright idea to go and open up in Berlin as well in 2017, we have three restaurants there. After 31 years, Glasgow will be restaurant number 31. We still open every new restaurant like its the first one. We never take it for granted. We then get into what to expect in Glasgow for the opening - Tuesday 2 December is the projected opening date and bookings are now open here: “We’re not fine dining, but we are not high-volume, high-churning restaurants either,” he explains. “You can come in and two of you can have a fantastic lunch with sushi and yakitori and walk out for £40. Or you can roll out the red carpet, celebrate with friends and go all-in with wagyu beef, black cod sashimi, top-shelf wine and cocktails. You might break £100 per person but you will have an amazing experience. “We go from babies to business, there will be a kids’ menu with bento boxes, we want to have the business crowd in, the movers and shakers, footballers, artists, it’s a very democratic offering where you can select the level that you want to enjoy depending on the occasion. We will have fantastic takeaway sushi platters and other dishes. Then, we will have this wonderful space downstairs, a Japanese cocktail and sake bar with a bit of a Nordic twist. You will love it”, he says with enthusiasm. Designed by Danish practice OEO Studio, the interiors at the Glasgow restaurant draw on Japanese architectural principles whilst incorporating Scandinavian design. Dishes to look forward to include Come for a Swim , a impressive sharing dish with six different dishes which including scallops with miso aïoli, trout roe, kataifi and shiso cress, crab croquettes with wasabi and sake-tamari marinated trout roe wiht daikon, miso and ponzu. See also temaki setto - DIY sushi rolls featuring lobster, wagyu tartare and avocado. From the grill, there’s hotate bacon - scallops wrapped in bacon with miso herb butter and wagyu yaki - tender Japanese wagyu from Kyushu. Behind the bar, the drink selection spans sake, Japanese teas, creative cocktails, premium spirits, beer - including their own label - and a wine list. Sticks'n'Sushi Glasgow, 7 George Square, G2 1DY
