Kikanbo, R Harn and More La Trobe Street Venues Close Indefinitely

R Harn co-owner Chavalit “Top” Piyaphanee was working dinner service on Friday night when an email from the lawyer for his landlord, 260 Latrobe Mercator, landed in his inbox.

The lawyer’s email stated that Piyaphanee’s landlord, who held a sublease with the building’s head landlord, expected the sublease to be terminated. The head landlord changed in February this year after the building at 260 La Trobe Street was sold.

“This unfortunate situation has arisen because of multiple reasons, but is primarily due to the sharp practices of the head landlord. Our client’s position is that any termination of the head lease by the lead landlord is unlawful,” it states. 260 Latrobe Mercator Pty Ltd, did not respond to Broadsheet ’s request for comment

Piyaphanee, who also co-owns Soi 38 , says he didn’t see the email, which came in at 9.23pm on Friday October 10, until he got home later that night. “Me and my wife were winding down, we saw that email and couldn’t sleep,” he tells Broadsheet.

By 7.30am the next morning, the head landlord had changed all the locks, he says. “All of our stock and everything is there, and there’s prep ready for the weekend service.” Piyaphanee has not been able to access the building since October 10.

R Harn and a number of other businesses on the strip of La Trobe Street opposite Melbourne Central, including Kikanbo , Kita Kata and Machi Machi, have now been forced to close indefinitely. Luke’s Vietnamese La Trobe Street, which is yet to open, is also affected.

Gilbert Kam, who opened a branch of Japanese ramen chain Kikanbo in June, tells Broadsheet he was able to enter the shop on Tuesday, October 14, to clear out stock and prep. “They let us in, and of course, there was security in front of the front door,” he says. Kam estimates that he threw away 400 to 500 kilograms of stock, meat, noodles and vegetables.

Notices from the head landlord stating that the sublease holder owes the head landlord over $100,000 are currently displayed on the affected shops’ front windows. The notice also singles out Kikanbo, and cites that the sub-landlord has “not done everything reasonably necessary to ensure that its Tenant’s Agent Kikanbo did not carry on – a noxious, noisome, or offensive business at the Premises, being the Japanese food and ramen business [sic]”, which it claims is in breach of the lease agreement. Head landlord, 368 Elizabeth Pty Ltd did not respond to Broadsheet ’s request for comment.

Piyaphanee says he has made efforts to reach out to both the sub-landlord and head landlord but has not received a response from either party. He estimates setting up R Harn cost $700,000, money they were hoping to recuperate once the State Library Station opens later this year. “We were hoping that trade would be a little bit better after the station next door was open. And all of a sudden, we don’t even have a chance to see how our business would perform with the station open, we don’t get a chance to see it.”

Kam, who brought Kikanbo to Melbourne with the help of its founder Masakazu “Masa” Miura, is worried about reputational damage caused by the closure. “It’s a dispute between the landlords. We tenants, we’re just victims,” he says.