Our Story
One kitchen open, two being built, and a rule we don't bend.
How Ikigailand started, and where it is going.
From a kitchen among the trees
From a kitchen among the trees
Ikigailand was founded in 2025 with one cast-iron pan, a stack of borrowed cookbooks, and a menu written on the back of a receipt: nine dishes, all of them small. The plan was never a chain. It was one room, cooked properly, and then — only if that worked — another.
The name came from a Japanese word a chef-mentor said over coffee one morning: ikigai, the small daily reason to get up. “If a restaurant has one of those,” he said, “everything else takes care of itself.” It went on a napkin, gained a “land” because ikigai alone felt incomplete in English, and never changed.
Ken 2, our first kitchen, opened in 2026. Two more restaurants are being built now and will open their kitchens by the end of the year. One rule carries across all of them: nothing on the menu travels more than 200 kilometres to get to the table. Everything else — the music, the lighting, the season's jam — is up for revision.
The Years
Short, so far.
- 2025
Ikigailand is founded. Nine dishes, written on the back of a receipt.
- 2026
Ken 2, our first kitchen, opens. Every dish under 200km.
- Late 2026
Two more restaurants in build. Kitchens open by year's end.
What We Hold To
Three things we hold to.
Close to source.
We don't romanticise “local.” We measure it. Every ingredient on our menu travels less than 200km.
Slow where it counts.
Sourdough ferments 36 hours. Stocks simmer six. We are fast where you are waiting and slow where it matters.
Hospitality, not theatre.
We won't shout your name when the food arrives. We'll just bring it warm, on a plate that fits.
Sara Tehrani
Thank you for reading this far. The next part is dinner.
The People
The team.
The people who actually make this happen.
Kenji Nakamura
Head Chef
Reserve Your Table
The next part is dinner.
Choose your experience and preferred time. We look forward to welcoming you to IkigaiLand.
(03) 9815 7777