Following seven years of working as a chef in Korean and Japanese restaurants, Plano resident Sangjoon Lee, decided it was time to open Hanakin, a Japanese restaurant, in his hometown in 2021.

“Most of the time [Dallas] has all the high quality [restaurants], what if we brought that quality here, to Plano?,” Lee said through a translator. “That was how I came up with the idea of opening it here.”

On the menu

The menu was designed to meet the needs of all ages as well as varying groups such as date nights, family, friends and coworkers.

“If they want to go super high end, they can go all sushi but if they want to be more casual, they can mix and match izakaya plates,” Lee said.


Izakaya are small dishes similar to tapas, Lee’s wife Kyo Lee said. Kyo helps out at the restaurant daily, wherever she is needed, Sangjoon Lee said.

Popular menu items include sashimi moriawase, cold dishes and katsu.

Sashimi moriawase is an assorted sashimi platter served on a bed of dry ice which creates a multi-sensory dining experience. The cold dishes are created by the sushi chefs and include tuna tomato featuring Bluefin tuna sashimi, tomato relish, mango and ponzu.

Katsu is available in chicken and pork.


“Katsu is like a chicken fried steak but is a thicker meat with batter and deep fried,” Lee said. “This is a popular casual dish in Japan.”

The inspiration

Lee said while traveling to New York, California and Japan, as well as doing online research, he gathered ideas of key components upscale restaurants exhibited and incorporated those into Hanakin.

What’s in a name?


Lee said ‘hana’ means ‘flower’, ‘kin’ means ‘gold’ and in Asian culture ‘gold’ means ‘Friday’.

“So it kind of means ‘Flower Like Friday’ which translates to ‘Thank God it’s Friday,’” Lee said. “The reason we chose that name is because I want workers to come after work and enjoy their afternoons here. Friday afternoons are when everyone gets loose.”

Quote of note

There are eight chefs at Hanakin, including Lee—three kitchen chefs and five sushi chefs.


“This is kind of like my playground, where I can experiment,” Lee said. “I want to continue talking with the staff and customers to get ideas, keep improving my skills and having fun.”