Alex Sushi, one of Oslo’s most highly rated restaurants, won’t lose its lease at the fashionable Tjuvholmen waterfront complex. Its landlords won a court battle sparked by another restaurant tenant, which didn’t want competition from Alex.
High-end Asian restaurant Hanami believed that Tjuvholmen’s property managers violated its leasing agreement, because Alex Sushi’s “food concept” was too close to its own.
The judge in the case disagreed, ruling that Hanami has a much broader menu than Alex Sushi, with many more warm dishes. Judge Eldbjørg Håkonsen Martinsen found that the two restaurants don’t share a similar food concept and that Alex Sushi can therefore remain at Tjuvholmen. She also ordered the owners of Hanami to pay NOK 319,000 (around USD 50,000) in costs tied to the trial.
Several top names in the Norwegian restaurant business testified at the unusual trial in Oslo, mostly in favour of Hanami. Its lawyer called the ruling “illogical” and “incorrect” and said his clients would consider an appeal.
newsinenglish.no staff
