Located at 56 Third Avenue, Manhattan, Lan sushi and grill bar is a restaurant with an indistinctive outlook, covered mainly in black color, and the name of the restaurant can hardly be seen either. But at the same time, an expanded glass allows people who have not visited to this restaurant can get an idea what they can experience with it. One may argue customers inside would feel like in a goldfish bowl, however that is what its design stands out. By looking out through the glass, customers inside will feel they are in a larger area, and most importantly by watching people outside suffering from chilling weather in winter, boiling temperature in summer, and all the hustle and bustle, that must have made customers feel immensely contented by enjoying their food and sipping with their wine inside. There are two doors at the entrance, the second door is on the right side after you get in the first door. Again it is another bright idea to have two doors to prevent heat or wind from getting in the restaurant so efficiently by putting two doors in different direction. By all these thoughtful designs, you can tell it is operated by a Japanese owner because it has so much consideration of their customers. .
Mr. Kawamoto, a native Japanese, is the owner of Lan sushi and grill bar first told me the designer of his restaurant is also a Japanese. If you think the interior and decor of Lan restaurant must be a traditional Japanese with Tatami mats, bamboo walls and scroll painting hanging on the walls, then you will have an indifferent experience of what you had in other previous Japanese restaurants. The whole place is around 2,000 square feet with a drinking bar, a grill bar, a sushi bar, and approximately 18 tables scattered around the area. The design of the restaurant is inclined to blend with traditional Japanese simplicity and frugal in modern time. There is not a single painting on walls, not a piece of flamboyant furniture, or not the glamorous place you will ever meet but it is its unpretending and plain combination would make you feel welcomed.