Hiroki: A Fancy Sushi Restaurant Opening in Fishtown

Former Morimoto chef Hiroki Fujiyama will open his namesake restaurant sometime in November.

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You know Hiroki Fujiyama. If not, then you’ve surely eaten his food — and if you’ve eaten his food, then you know how big of a deal his new restaurant, Hiroki, will be to Fishtown when it opens in November.

Fujiyama was Masuharu Morimoto’s guy in Philly. The one who held down the fort at Morimoto — the Iron Chef’s now-17-year-old restaurant (that he opened in collaboration with Stephen Starr) on Chestnut Street — while the actual Morimoto expanded his empire around the globe. For all intents and purposes, Fujiyama treated the restaurant as his own. Sure, it was Morimoto’s name on the door, but for over a decade, Fujiyama was the magic behind the bar — behind what was considered to be Philly’s first serious sushi omakase experience.

Obviously, the chef has paid his dues. And when Method Co. (the group behind Wm. Mulherin’s Sons and the extended stay concept, Roost Apartment Hotels) came to him with the opportunity to open a place of his own, he pounced, spending the last few months travelling throughout Japan to source inspiration and menu ideas for his first namesake restaurant.

Hiroki will open in what was originally Wm. Mulherin’s storage garage attached to the back of the building at Lee and Master Streets. More importantly, it will be the first upscale sushi restaurant in the neighborhood — surely a welcome addition considering Fishtown’s dearth of Japanese restaurants.