spidee
YAKA is a Sri Lankan restaurant and bar upstairs at 72/30 Lonsdale St, Braddon. It started as a food truck in Braddon, and now it has a room of its own. It also has a new website, live at yakacanberra.com.au, designed by Spidee.
The site does two jobs. It shows Canberra what YAKA is like, and it lets guests book a table without picking up the phone. Every "Book a table" button on the site opens YAKA's booking page on MyTable, Spidee's table booking system.
Here is what we built, and what we think any restaurant needs from its website.
A look as loud as the room
The design is called Neon Muhunu. It takes its cue from the masks of Sri Lankan tradition, the yaka that gives the restaurant its name, and from the neon over YAKA's bar.
The page sits on a warm near-black, like a dining room after dark. On top of it go hot pink, vermilion, yellow and green, the colours of the masks. Headings are set in tall, condensed capitals, and a few key words are set in a rounded neon-tube lettering with a soft glow behind them, so they look lit up. The yaka mask itself appears in neon, as the restaurant's logo.
Bold is a choice, not a default. A quiet, cream-and-serif look suits plenty of restaurants. It would not suit a place whose own words are "Sri Lankan heritage and Aussie imagination". The website should feel like walking in.
The food first
The menu section opens with the kottu, YAKA's signature, then moves on to dishes with their own photos: isso wade, a Sri Lankan-style pizza, garlic butter crab with roast paan, the YAKA Special, a weekend rice and curry, and a kithul panna cotta. Each one gets a short, plain description in YAKA's own voice.
Photos of real dishes do more work than any adjective. Guests deciding where to eat tonight want to see the food, so the food gets the space.
Every "Book a table" goes to one place
There are booking buttons in the header, in the hero and in their own section further down. They all lead to the same page: YAKA's booking page on MyTable. It carries YAKA's name, mask and colours.
Booking takes two steps, with no account needed. On the first, a guest picks how many people are coming, the day, where they would like to sit and a time. Bigger groups are asked to call the restaurant instead.
How MyTable is set up for YAKA
We set MyTable up with YAKA's real room and hours, so guests only see times the restaurant can seat them:
- 20 tables and 75 seats.
- Three areas guests can choose from: Inside, Outdoor and High bench.
- Dinner Wednesday to Saturday, 5:30 to 10pm.
- Lunch Saturday and Sunday, 11am to 3pm.
- Closed Monday and Tuesday.
On the restaurant side, staff manage bookings on the venue's iPad or a desktop. MyTable shows the day's bookings in one list, checks every table before a booking is saved so two groups never get the same one, and sends each guest a confirmation email with a QR code they can show at the door. Guests can change or cancel a booking themselves, inside the cut-off the restaurant sets. More on that on the MyTable page.
Hours and directions that match
YAKA is upstairs, and a first-floor restaurant is easy to walk past. The Find us section says so plainly: look up on Lonsdale Street, follow the neon and take the stairs. Next to the address sit a Google Maps link and the opening hours, day by day.
The hours on the website match the booking page: dinner Wednesday to Saturday, lunch on weekends, so a guest never finds a Tuesday slot on one and a closed sign on the other.
Choosing a booking system? Ask two questions before you sign up: does the booking page look like my restaurant or like the booking company, and can a guest book a table that I do not have? You want "mine" and "no".
What a restaurant needs from its website
- A look that matches the room. If your venue is loud, your website can be too.
- Real photos of real dishes. Lead with the dish people come for.
- One booking button, everywhere. In the header, near the top and again further down, all going to the same booking page.
- A booking page in your own colours. Guests should feel they are still with you.
- Your real tables and areas. Let guests choose inside or out, and only offer times you can seat.
- Hours and directions that are easy to find. Especially if you are upstairs or tucked away.
- Only show proof that is real. Use reviews you have permission to share, never samples.
Where Spidee comes in
YAKA's website and its bookings are one Spidee package: we designed the site, set up MyTable with the restaurant's tables and hours, and connected every booking button to it. If you run a restaurant or cafe, see websites and table bookings for restaurants and cafes, or tell us about your venue. Or see three designs for your business, free.
And if you are in Braddon, look up on Lonsdale Street and book a table at YAKA.