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Jihan Lee and Takahiro Sakaeda Are Taking TBD Gimbap Permanent

Their West Village pop-up rolled about 350 gimbap a day, sold close to 1,000 at Citi Field and is now headed for a permanent Manhattan home.

Jihan Lee and Takahiro Sakaeda are chef partners at Launchpad Hospitality, the group behind Nami Nori and this year’s TBD Gimbap pop-up. Nami Nori now operates five dine-in restaurants in four states. The partners say those restaurants serve more than 7,500 diners a week and that the business grew 40 percent last year. From mid-March through August, TBD Gimbap operated out of the former Postcard Bakery space next door to Nami Nori in the West Village, rolling about 350 gimbap a day and usually selling out by 4 p.m.

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On Aug. 15, the Mets’ Korean Heritage Night drew 34,737 fans to Citi Field, and Lee says TBD Gimbap sold close to 1,000 rolls there. On Oct. 8, it popped up at Taste of Asia in Madison Square Park. The partners now plan to give the concept a permanent Manhattan home backed by a new commissary kitchen.

Sakaeda and Lee opened Nami Nori in the West Village in 2019 with managing partner Lisa Limb. Pharrell Williams joined Launchpad as a partner and advisor in 2024, and Nami Nori opened at........

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