Last year, I was at my local coffee shop, Coffee Cave, in Carina Heights, when the owner, Jarrah, said, “How about setting up a Japanese izakaya?” He got me thinking, and even suggested Kurokishi (Black Knight) as the name. I ran with it! Adding 亭, literally STOP in Chinese. If you drive a car or ride a bike in China, you’ll see this at most intersections without lights. The Japanese adopted it in the 6th Century to mean a place to stop and have a drink, 黒騎士亭, was born.

From this genesis, I thought my izakaya should be a combination of all the dim joints in all the precincts within Tokyo that I had frequented. I still have the concept in my head, from Tengu to Golden Gai to Roppongi, the ideas are flowing like a Suntory Black 生ビール (draft beer), like the one I had at Suntory’s head office in Tokyo with the All France rugby guys, organised by my good friend, Ian Brazier.

卵 (tamago) n. egg in Japanese. However, it is used colloquially to refer to the start of something big that will grow. We will gather at Yoko Dining in the Howard Smith Wharves precinct on Sunday to celebrate good Japanese food & drink and share ideas on where Kurokishi-tei can go in the future.