Disney's new character

Wong pursues fusion and flavor as he develops new menu items, including new oyster and shrimp dishes that will be coming soon to his Haiku restaurant, and the "all kinds of eggs" salad that's become a best-seller at Hatsune.[Photo provided to China Daily]

"Man, I dream about food," he says. "Plus, I'm always around creative people who are doing different things and having fun with food. Some of us are on chat groups that are really nothing but food porn photos. Inspiration is all around."

Transplanting to Disney

You'd think inspiration was ready at hand at Disneyland, but that didn't mean his restaurant became Never-Never Land. There are no Snow White lookalikes dancing from table to table with platters of California roll.

"That's not what they－or I－wanted at all," he says. "The food courts inside the park are Disney-themed, and that's the right place for it. Our restaurant is just outside the park in "Disney Downtown", and the goal was to make it look and feel like Hatsune, not Disney.

The only requirement from Disney was to put some items on the menu that were exclusive to that site. Wong came up with an Iberian pork dish and a roasted crab leg with spicy aioli.

"Our other Hatsune restaurants have a per-person spend of 200-250 yuan," he says, "and we wanted to keep the Disney restaurant at the same price level.

There were "a few hundred" restaurants competing for the 18 restaurant slots, and only one would be Japanese.

"Hatsune has always been about California sushi－we have never aimed to be a traditional restaurant for a Japanese audience," he says. Disney apparently saw the concept as very approachable for its audience.

Since he arrived in Beijing 15 years ago, Wong has become one of China's most successful foreign restaurateurs, introducing tens of thousands of diners to his brand of California-style sushi. With the opening at Shanghai Disneyland, he estimates his workforce will grow to nearly 800 employees.

"It is pretty crazy," Wong recently said in an interview with his hometown Sacramento Bee. "Sometimes I look at myself in the mirror and say, 'What are you doing? How are you managing all these people?'"

Wong, now 40, told the California newspaper that he still loves the energy and bustle of Beijing, but he still has a soft spot for Sacramento.

"I miss people walking by you and saying, 'Hey, how's it going?' I miss the air," he said in the March interview.