Psycho Sandbar, Leeds: Everything you need to know about Michael O'Hare's new restaurant including opening date, menu, prices and how to book

The chef, who has run the restaurant in Vicar Lane for nine years, decided to make huge changes last year and his new venue, Psycho Sandbar, is set to open in the coming weeks. The Great British Menu judge said the rebrand was influenced by Brexit, the pandemic and the cost of living crisis, which have transformed the food and drink industry.

Promising a “fish-heavy” restaurant and the same quality of food diners have come to love at The Man Behind The Curtain, O’Hare said Psycho Sandbar would be more versatile and accessible, with a “surf-shack” theme.

So, here is everything you need to know about the new restaurant.

When will Psycho Sandbar open?

Michael O’Hare said the restaurant would be run by the same team as his Man Behind The Curtain venture, and the only thing changing would be the offering, outlook and name. Man Behind The Curtain closed on December 31, and the last few weeks have been spent giving the Vicar Lane venuye a refurb.

That refurb now appears to be complete and Psycho Sandbar is set to open on March 8.

What’s on the menu?

One of the biggest changes for visitors to the new restaurant will be the way the food is served. Although there is still a ten-course tasting menu available, Psycho Sandbar also offers an a la carte menu featuring starter, fish main and dessert courses. The new menu also featuresa separate section where diners can order oysters and other raw seafood, as well as kuzu dumplings.

As promised by the chef, the new menu is fish and seafood heavy, John Dory, skate, scallop and prawn all featuring.

The 42-year-old Yorkshire-born chef is also continuing to wow with his creative dishes. As well as his famed ‘emancipation’ dish from a previous series of Great British Menu, the dessert menu also includes ‘ephemirism’ – described as a colaborative dessert with Parisian artist and skater Benoit Bahy.

How much will it cost?

One of the other changes to the restaurant is the price point. Although the ten-course menu comes in at £165 per person, the a la carte menu offers more affordable dining. The aforementioned ‘emancipation dish’ costs £27, while the turbot costs £36 and the skate wing costs £24.

The oysters start at £4.50 while the kuzu dumplings start at £12. The small, starter-style plates range from £14 to £28 and desserts start at £13.

How can I book?

The website for the new restaurant is now live, where diners can peruse the full menus and also book via the Tock website.

The website says general reservations are available for a la carte menu, the tasting menu is limited to up to 12 people per service, and vegetarian menus are available on the a la carte bookings.

What has Michael O’Hare said about the venture?

Announcing the news in a video on social media in October last year, O’Hare said: “Things need to change because the world has changed and I have changed…my team have changed.

“Our ability hasn’t, our vision hasn’t, but the world has. As an industry we’ve been hit by three major, major waves - Brexit was the first, we had the pandemic and then we had the cost of living crisis. That’s three huge things that impact the sector in such an enormous way.

“The new restaurant is going to be called Psycho Sandbar based on those three waves - a fish heavy, surf-shacky kind-of-feel restaurant that is brutalist in design, where you can eat beautifully-grilled fish, you can have pitta bread with plankton, you can have champagne, cocktails - you can do whatever you want.

“You could do six plates or you can have a whole roast duck if you want. We just want to categorise things in a way that’s like - this is the product, that’s what we’re going to do to it and that’s how much it costs if you want it. And you do, you really do.”