The mayfair Magazine | Regulars
My life in MAYFAIR a rjun wa n e y SENIOR DIRECTOR, the arts club
F ‘Coya is going to be one of the most beautifully designed restaurants you’ve ever seen’ – Arjun Waney
from top: arjun waney; banca (photo by paul winch); Cecconi’s; food at banca
or many, Arjun Waney, the Indian-born entrepreneur is synonymous with exquisite Mayfair gastronomy. From La Petite Maison to The Arts Club, Banca to Aurelia, Waney has worked his foodie magic across most culinary continents; fresh seafood ceviches and carpaccios, baby chickens and Dover soles each making an appearance more than once along the way. Yet, it was another Burlington-based eatery that first inspired Waney to set up shop in Mayfair: ‘I always wanted to be near Cecconi’s’ – the local ‘institution’ providing his very favourite Mediterranean food. Living in a penthouse in Lowndes Square, Waney has come a long way from his Bombay roots and now the newly opened Coya, boasting Peruvian-style food, looks set to become another equally impressive notch on Waney’s epicurean bedpost. ‘It’s going to be one of the most beautifully designed restaurants you’ve ever seen. It’s going to have a private club on the top floor with a £600 admission fee and we’re only thinking of taking around 200 members.’ With each of Waney’s new ventures proving even more successful than the last, he plans to expand his Mayfairbased brands worldwide, bringing a touch of Piccadilly to New York and the Middle East. ‘We’re taking Aurelia to Dubai because the food is so appealing to that market. For example, I went to Aurelia for lunch the other day with some of the royal princes of Saudi Arabia and I asked them where their favourite places in London were. Without them knowing I was one of the owners of the restaurant, one said “I come here two or three times a week” and I was shocked. I said “But I’ve never seen you there” and he replied that I must go on the wrong days.’ ‘We’re also going to develop The Arts Club in New York but before that we might open up in Istanbul, because its economy is growing at eight or nine per cent a year and it’s very close by. It’s got a very wealthy population but they don’t have a private club mentality so we’re taking on the challenge for the first time.’ And while there’s no doubt Arjun enjoys dining in each of his restaurants at least once a week, they also host a number of his charitable fundraisers, something the entrepreneur is far more concerned with than spending his fortune on life’s little luxuries. ‘My only ambition in life right now is to raise money for curable blindness in India. I made a promise to my daughter that we will use all our money and all our efforts to eradicate it.’ 25