A privately opened robayataki (Japanese grilling) restaurant has opened in a converted former lighthouse in Hong Kong.

Called Busy Suzie, the restaurant is the brainchild of entrepreneur Gilbert Yeung, the creator of the popular night club dragon-i.

The round shaped restaurant and lounge bar is housed in a former lighthouse building, where Hong Kong's typhoon warning signals were hoisted and which is the highlight of the historic Marine Police headquarters conversion, Heritage 1881, in Tsim Sha Tsui.

The restaurant's interior has been created by husband and wife duo Patrick Gilles and Dorothee Boissier, while the waiting staff's outfits have been created by Hong Kong fashion designer Joseph Lee. Lighting company Isometrix was commissioned to create a typically Japanese ambience throughout.

Busy Suzie will offer traditional Japanese dishes an extensive sake menu within a contemporary Asian-fusion environment.

The method of robatayaki cooking originates from Sendai, the largest city in northeastern Japan, and is derived from simple beach restaurants where fishermen cooked their catch over an open fire with only an oar as a cooking utensil.

Robata chefs today still use a wooden paddle to pass food to customers, a method which is reflected in the restaurant's name Busy Suzie - a play on words of the Chinese table-top servery tool, the Lazy Susan, which acts as a dumbwaiter for diners who spin it around to serve themselves their chosen dishes.

Gilbert Yeung said: "We wanted to create an environment that was lively, fun and upbeat - somewhere that would naturally put you in an uplifted mood before a night out on the town.

"Only the finest and freshest ingredients are flown in daily from Japan for chef Tonoyama Mitsuo to create authentic cuisine with his handpicked team of Japanese chefs - a culinary group that took him six months to bring together."