Chef Lewis Lin, the owner of JUJU (Website) and SUSURU (Website), will soft open Hayashi Tarō (Instagram), a Japanese “Orizume House” concept pairing omakase bento boxes, matcha tea service, and ceramics, toward the end of October in the Mills 50 District.
Former Norigami (Website) Executive Chef David Tsan will join Lin at the restaurant, which has taken over the former Royal Tea space on Mills Avenue.
Orizume is the Japanese practice of composing a seasonal meal inside a folded wooden box called an ori-bako. At Hayashi Tarō, the omakase ori-bento is the centerpiece, priced from $25 to $75. Offerings range from mosaic-style kaisen donburi to traditional nigiri, with cooked, kaiseki-style bento on select days. Each box features seafood flown in from Tokyo’s Toyosu Market (Website), produce from Orlando’s 4 Roots Farm, and seasonal garnishes harvested from JUJU’s garden. The shop has limited indoor seating, where guests can watch matcha prepared while they wait to take their bento home. The chef counter will host seasonal events throughout the year.
The matcha service draws on chadō, the Japanese way of tea. It is led by Tea and Sake Sommelier Mai Mitarai, who trained under Yoshiko Hardick, a certified instructor of the Omote Senke School of Tea in Kyoto, Japan. The release says the first-harvest matcha is ground on stone mills at Tsuji, a 160-year-old estate in Uji, Kyoto, and hand-harvested. Each serving is measured with a bamboo scoop, mixed with water heated in a cast-iron kettle, and whisked to order in a handcrafted tea bowl.
The space will also sell collectible ceramic matcha bowls and plates, made through collaborations between master ceramicists in Japan and local Orlando artists.
“Our goal with Hayashi Tarō is to create an immersive space around our Orizume House concept, where guests can experience the craftsmanship behind tea and food preparation,” Lin said in the release. “We wanted to make high-level omakase and Japanese cultural experiences far more approachable and unpretentious, offering a refined meal that guests can easily share and enjoy at home.”
Details on preview events will be posted on the restaurant’s Instagram, @hayashitaro.fl.
