Sushi Train MortdaleRestaurant fit-out design · Mortdale

This restaurant belongs to an established sushi train franchise, but it was designed to respond more closely to Mortdale and the way people there eat out. The brief was a relaxed, bar-like room where customers stay longer, socialise and have drinks with their food, particularly in the evening and during late trading hours.

A franchise comes with an identity to keep. The task was to keep the restaurant clearly part of the brand while changing how it feels to sit there: slower, warmer and more social.

Soft green vertical tiles, warm timber, brass detailing and plenty of planting give the room a casual but refined hospitality feel. Curved forms and layered lighting soften the space, and aged brick and more textural finishes add warmth and character throughout.

The bar is a curved counter clad in the same green tiles and framed in brass, with a drinks station beside it and hanging plants above. Booths sit under illuminated Japanese characters on a textured brick wall.

The result keeps the franchise identity and turns it into a relaxed neighbourhood restaurant, with a stronger bar and a more social atmosphere.

A restaurant that wants people to linger over drinks needs a liquor licence and trading hours that suit, as well as the right look.

In NSW, a restaurant that sells alcohol usually holds an on-premises licence from Liquor & Gaming NSW, and its main activity must remain preparing and serving meals. The application asks for a copy of the council's development consent, so the planning approval has to be in order first. Serving drinks to people who aren't eating, or trading late at night, needs extra authorisations, so check what applies to your venue.

Hours are the other constraint. A development consent can set or restrict trading hours, so the hours in the consent and the hours on the licence need to line up. Liquor & Gaming NSW tells licensees to check whether the consent also needs to change before they change licence hours.

Then the room. A bar counter is still part of a food premises, built to the same rules as the kitchen. Councils usually make AS 4674 a condition of consent, with hands-free hand basins within 5 metres of where food is handled. Hard finishes such as tile and brick clean well but reflect sound, and a social room gets loud quickly, so soft seating, planting and ceiling treatments earn their place.

We recommend deciding early how late you want to trade, then designing and applying for those hours. The hours in the tenancy's existing consent may be shorter than the ones you need.