Born in Sapporo, Japan, Hiroaki Sato comes from a family deeply rooted in the tradition and food of their native land. Despite this, Sato has always strived for a balance between that profound family history that goes back to cannons of honor, battle, and strength, and his own impulse towards disruption and doing things differently. Throughout his youth he played soccer professionally, even playing in teams in the American continent. His playing style always led him to be that Black Horse in the sport, that unexpected player that changes the results against all expectations.
That’s how Kuro Uma, which means Black Horse in Japanese, is born. It is an Omakase and Izakaya which respects the traditional elements of sushi, uniting them with the upheaval that inevitably comes from being an underdog in the world of oriental cuisine.
Sato’s main passion is creating: creating expressive recipes, unique flavors, perfect harmony, and new options. His main goal with this restaurant is to offer an experience that respects Japan’s tradition of equilibrium and creativity. A place of heritage and experimentation, where the spirit of creation is always celebrated. A place where Sato can do things exactly as he likes to: in his own way.
This omakase’s main inspiration is based on a Japanese philosophy called Polarism, created by one of Sato’s greatest guides: the artist and philosopher Taro Okamoto. Polarism, just like Kuro Uma, searches for balance. Balance between opposites: between past and future, tradition and innovation, east and west, rationality and insanity, passion and serenity, flavors, sensations…
These complex ideas are expressed through a brand that makes use of details and textures from Japanese artistic tradition, and also from the country’s creative avante-garde. In this way, the details themselves channel the spirit of the black horse. The icon, rough and unfettered, is also discrete; an ideal symbol of the equilibrium that defines the brand. Perfectly imperfect applications, hand-made, using ink and stamps, reflect the creative freedom of the place. The image, then, manifests the brand's independent spirit, that creative rebellion that is searching, above all, for harmony.
If that balance wasn't there, it would be just like any other restaurant. Achieving that balance is Sato’s passion. That is the main goal in Kuro Uma.
This is Kuro Uma: more than a restaurant, and experience borne from that rebellion through equilibrium, a revolution of creation through balance.
