Popular Japanese Restaurant In Berkeley To Close

BERKELEY, CA — A popular Japanese restaurant in Berkeley is closing, its management announced over the weekend.

Fish & Bird Sousaku Izakaya on Shattuck Avenue announced on social media that it would be closing, citing a "tough" six and a half years and the owner's decision to "semi-retire." The restaurant's last day of service will be on Sunday, June 14.

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Owner Yoshika Hedberg also told the Chronicle that the restaurant's lease was up and the business was no longer profitable.

"Thank you so much for your support over the past 6 1/2 years; we loved meeting you and serving you," the management team said in a statement online.

Fish & Bird Sousaku Izakaya is known for its unique and creative take on Japanese dishes, such as the little gem wasabi salad, a "local little gem," made of pea tendrils, sunflower sprout, baby corn silk, raw wasabi & chrysanthemum dressing.

"We wanted to do something no one is doing here: a modern style of Japanese cooking," Hedberg told the Chronicle ahead of the restaurant's opening more than half a decade ago. "We don’t want to call it fusion. It’s something truly Japanese but with a flair of local flavors."