Auckland restaurant Jadetown Uyghur Cuisine closing its Mt Eden premises amid liquidation
Auckland restaurant Jadetown Uyghur Cuisine is closing its Mt Eden premises after going into liquidation this week.
Liquidator Brenton Hunt, of Insolvency Matters, was appointed to Watan Ltd on January 19.
In his first report on the company, he said the restaurant had been “struggling with working capital for some time”.
The Mt Eden lease was surrendered to the landlord, and staff contracts were terminated, Hunt said.
According to the liquidator’s report, the company owes creditors an estimated $100,000.
A preferential claim from Inland Revenue of $60,000 is owed.
Unsecured creditors are owed $40,000.
The company has an estimated $10,507 in plant and equipment to be sold in the liquidation.
Companies Office records show Eric Ibrahim is the sole director and shareholder of Watan Ltd.
According to its website, Jadetown Uyghur Cuisine’s Mt Eden restaurant was opened in 2015, offering authentic Uyghur dishes inspired by Central Asian flavours.
A second restaurant was opened in Albany in 2024, which remains in operation.
The hospitality industry has been particularly hard hit by liquidations in the past year, accounting for the second-highest amount (318) in the 12 months to October 2025, according to Centrix data.
A Restaurant Association report showed national hospitality sales for the third quarter of 2025 grew 5.9% year on year to reach $4.05 billion.
But the improvement in revenue growth had not translated into proportional margin improvement, with cost pressures remaining “elevated”, the report said.