Sushi Planet owner Kiseop Lee is not Japanese he's Korean but don't be scared: the new Masterton businessman has learnt his craft from the best.
The new Masterton resident set up what is the only dedicated sushi restaurant in Wairarapa, which opened yesterday, despite an earlier intention
to start up in Paraparaumu after he'd stopped for something to eat in this town but found little to satisfy Asian tastes.
He'd found a small shop in a Masterton Trust Lands Trust-owned premises on Queen Street south, which was perfect for his needs, decided to set up there, and was assisted through the bureaucracy by his landlord, the trust assistance for which he is very grateful.
Trust chief executive officer Gary Percy said "we helped him no more than we helped Pat McKenna set up" a deli business just doors away, but he is personally in favour of the idea.
"I do believe personally that's a good thing to open.
"People have been knocking on his door since the sign went up."
Mr Lee previously owned a business of the same name in Napier since 2007, which he sold to move further south, and before that operated another sushi restaurant in Waiheke Island for two years.
He also spent 12 years cheffing for a vineyard on the island and making sushi "for their functions".
Despite his Korean ancestry, his background before moving to New Zealand 20 years ago was landscaping in Japan, and while there, he'd often spend time at his cousin's large restaurant in Osaka, he said, helping him make sushi.
There, he learnt the skills to make the seaweed encased treat, though Masterton's variety will be a variation on the traditional Japanese recipe, Mr Lee said.
"It's a little bit different to other sushi in New Zealand.
"My own recipe," he said. "Japanese people, they just want it very simple and they want to taste it.
"If they want salmon, they just want salmon.
"People here they don't really like that style.
"They like it mixed with avocado and that."
While the new Masterton businessman is "a little bit" nervous about how his new venture will go, he is expecting to fill a perceived gap in the market for takeaway food, he said.
And the nature of people in this community has certainly helped the journey thus far.
"People here are very friendly. I feel like a local. Everybody's helping me."
Sushi Planet owner Kiseop Lee is not Japanese he's Korean but don't be scared: the new Masterton businessman has learnt his craft from the best.
The new Masterton resident set up what is the only dedicated sushi restaurant in Wairarapa, which opened yesterday, despite an earlier intention
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