Crowdfunded Sash brings sashimi pizzas to Surry Hills

Sash restaurant opens in the second week of February in Surry Hills, but it isn't necessarily its Japanese-style sashimi pizzas that make it unique.

Sash might yet prove to be the future of restaurant start-ups.

"We are the first restaurant to raise investment from the public under the new equity crowdfunding legislation," co-owner Dave Nelson tells Good Food.

The restaurateur might not yet know the name and face of the 170 investors in his Wentworth Avenue restaurant, and while he concedes the amount of money raised is relatively modest, it can provide other upsides.

"There's not a lot of loyalty in hospitality, so the engagement from investors in the business is beneficial," he explains.

With a range of perks from discounts to concierge bookings and VIP seating (not to mention the lure of possible dividends for investors), Nelson is hopeful Sash will have a rusted-on group of regulars.

The concept grew out of an entrant for an international pizza competition that took the idea of sushi and sashimi and turned it into a pizza.

And while there are rice-based Japanese pizza bases blackened with squid ink, you'll also find gyoza-skin-shell tacos on the menu and Japanese cocktails.

It lands on a stretch of Wentworth Avenue near another Melbourne import, Chin Chin.

Sash, 80 Wentworth Avenue, Surry Hills.