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.

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."