On an afternoon in early July, Hiroyuki Sato, owner-chef of the renowned sushi restaurant Hakkoku, is in high spirits after a few glasses of Champagne. He’s celebrating the debut of Sushidan, his new casual sushi bar inside the two-story food hall — titled The Restaurant — of Tokyo’s recently launched Eat Play Works, and the positive reception has bolstered his optimism for the venture.
“This project is possible because of friendship,” Sato says, describing how the food hall’s group of loosely acquainted operators decided to create a dining concept based on cooperation. The plan came together like a pot-luck party on a commercial scale: One chef called another chef, who in turn introduced another. The result is a diverse collection of 17 restaurants ranging in style from sushi to ramen, and modern Spanish to Japanese-infused French bistro fare.
“Instead of competing with each other, we’re working to make the building itself a dining destination,” he explains.