Owosso – This summer, a new restaurant opened its doors in downtown Owosso, and it has been successful in its first month and a half of operation.
Sakura Japanese, Thai and Spirit, located at 115 S. Washington St., held its grand opening on Aug. 22 and has seen tremendous community support, according to its owners.
“Business has been busy so far,” said co-owner Danang “Danny” Adimasta. “It has been overwhelming, but in a good way. I’m not complaining.”
Adimasta, 34, co-owns the business with his longtime friend Dhimas Nugraha, 33. Nearly a decade ago, the duo moved from Indonesia to the United States, leaving behind family and friends to pursue their dreams of becoming chefs.
“The opportunities are far better here than they are in Indonesia,” Adimasta said. “At first it was scary to move to the US alone, but I tried to make friends here and I call my family very often, almost every day.”
After arriving in the United States, Adimasta and Nugraha moved from state to state to gain experience in the food industry. Adimasta began working as a dishwasher at a restaurant in Washington, DC, then moved to Lancaster, Ohio, two weeks later to cook. He bounced from Florida to West Virginia and eventually came to Michigan, where he continued to climb the ranks.
In November 2022, Adimasta and Nugraha decided to quit their jobs and open the first Sakura location in Jackson.
In February 2023, they began discussing the possibility of opening a second Sakura location and met with a real estate agent in Owosso. They settled on the former site of Lula’s Louisiana Cookhouse, which burned down in December 2021 and never reopened.
Adimasta moved to Owosso in June and hasn’t looked back. Since opening Sakura in August, he and Nugraha have been hard at work in the kitchen, adding six chefs and three food prep staff.
The restaurant has a sushi kitchen, a traditional Thai style kitchen and a hibachi grill.
“A lot of people do the hibachi grill because they’re really familiar with it, but people should try the Thai food,” Adimasta said. “It’s traditional Thai food.”
All sauces at Sakura are made in-house, from yum yum sauce to salad dressing to teriyaki sauce and curry.
“We buy all the ingredients from a supplier, but we make it on our own,” Adimasta said. “We try to keep it just us.”
Sakura has two suppliers, one in Chicago and one in Detroit, that deliver shipments of fresh fish twice a week.
For anyone stopping by for the first time, Adimasta recommends Lula’s Roll or Lily’s Roll, named after Lula’s Louisiana Cookhouse and the adjacent bar, Lily Pearl’s Lounge.
“If you like raw sushi, I recommend Lula’s Roll,” he said. “It’s really good. It’s one of my favorites. It’s one of our signature rolls with crawfish in it, and then we also have Lily’s Roll, which also has crawfish in it.”
Sakura is open weekdays from 11am to 2.30pm and closes for two hours to prepare for the night shift. The restaurant opens again at 16.30 and closes at 21.30 On Saturday and Sunday, the restaurant is open from midday until 9.30 p.m