It's in the game: Esports giant joins Elephant Park alongside East Asian trio

Esports café Wanyoo, Taiwanese tea specialists YiFang, and restaurant & bar OISOI have taken an inter-connected unit spanning over 6,000 sq ft, and will be joined at Elephant Park by sushi and hot food outlet Kokoro.

Wanyoo was founded in 1998 and has since become one of the world’s leading cyber cafés, with over 1,300 locations across four continents. The new Elephant Park site will be the brand’s fourth in the UK, covering 1,917 sq ft and seating up to 45 players at any given time, with the latest in Esports technology creating a unique experience for its players.

Specialising in Taiwanese fruit tea, YiFang is set to open its latest London outlet, a 226 sq ft unit integrated with Wanyoo, offering its range of fruit teas, fresh milk teas, and the incredibly popular ‘MudFlip’ – a brown sugar pearl milk tea available throughout the day.

Having signed for a 3,968 sq ft, 130 cover restaurant, OISOI is Elephant Park’s largest dining outlet to date. As a premium brand, it will provide a brand-new concept of “When East Meets West”, collaborating with Michelin-starred chef Max Castaldo and combining sous vide with traditional wok fried skills, to present a unique OISOI experience. It will offer extensive choice, from an artisan dim sum lunch and Michelin style afternoon tea, to a formal all day à la carte menu. 

Adjacent to 400 Rabbits on Ash Avenue, Kokoro is a Korean-Japanese takeaway focused brand. The 1,000 sq ft sushi and bento restaurant seeks to keep food tasty, fresh, and healthy, having expanded significantly throughout the UK since launching in southwest London just over 10 years ago.

Guy Thomas, Head of Place Assets at Lendlease, said: “Wanyoo, YiFang, and OISOI benefit from facing onto New Kent Road, a busy thoroughfare and key gateway to Elephant Park, while Kokoro looks out onto the amazing two-acre green space of the brand new park. Esports is already a huge industry and it’s great to have an industry leader joining us whilst adding to the leisure provision at Elephant Park. Adding some amazing East Asian food and drink gives further diversity to the wider Elephant Park lifestyle and F&B offer, which is shaping up to be an all-encompassing destination, in line with our vision.”

Zhaorong Chen of Wanyoo, commented: “People of all ages love gaming, and this forms a large part of the worldwide rush towards competitive socialising. We are certain that the local Elephant & Castle community will embrace Esports, in the same way people have already done at our other UK locations. Alongside these great F&B brands, we represent modern East Asian culture, and are delighted to be bringing that to Elephant Park.”

Jay Wang of OISOI, added: “OISOI is all about authenticity and artisans – we are very careful when it comes to choosing the décor, tableware, and menu items. We look forward to showcasing the best of East Asian food and design; Elephant Park is a melting pot of international dining, so it is exciting to be part of the mix.”