The chef and restaurateur has closed his Casual Leopard restaurant and will reopen it as Kuroyoko in the coming months.
The new restaurant will serve kushiyaki skewers alongside a menu of Japanese beer and cocktails and is described by Hallsworth as having a Tokyo backstreet feel to it.
Kuroyoko translates as ‘black alley’ or ‘dark side’ and will capture ‘the moody, restless and atmospheric spirit of Tokyo’s after-hours dining scene’.
Named after a legendary creature, Casual Leopard served an eclectic menu that featured dishes including chilli prawn pizza, grilled anchovy toasts, smoked lamb kofte, and baby spinach salad and saw Hallsworth move away from his Asian cooking roots to create a more all-day offer.
However, the chef admits that it didn’t work and says that he didn’t love the Leopard.
In a video on Instagram, he says: “Casual Leopard is no more. It just didn’t work the way I wanted it to, and I didn’t have the ambition to keep it going. If you don’t feel it, you don’t feel it.
“I didn’t love the Leopard, and I don’t think the Leopard liked me.”
Hallsworth, a former Nobu chef who also operates pan-Asian brand Freak Scene, says he is pleased to be returning to the style of cooking at the site for which he is best known. “Kuroyoko is a bit more up my street,” he says. “I have a strong Asian and Japanese cooking background.”
Hallsworth opened Casual Leopard in September 2024. More recently he teamed up with restaurant group The Evolv Collection to create The Evolv x Freak Scene pop-up restaurant at its 100 Wardour Street venue, which is open from July to November.
Kuroyoko is expected to open in early September.