There is a saying that nobody knows a business better than its staff, and that is certainly the case with an exciting new Eastern venture just launched by Greg's Steakhouse.

When Greg Wilson, owner of the restaurant on the corner of Church Street and Parliament Street in Hamilton, was trying to come up with an idea with what to do with the bar area in the upstairs of his restaurant, he asked his employees and they told him to turn it into a sushi bar.

That was six weeks ago and the new G Sushi bar has now been up and running for the past week, much to popular acclaim, according to Mr. Wilson. He said the sushi bar replaced the G Spot bar, which was empty most of the week and only busy on Friday and Saturday nights, in a bid to make full use of the upstairs area.

"We opened this new sushi bar upstairs on the second floor of the restaurant last week and it is already proving very popular with the customers," said Mr. Wilson.

"I asked my staff what we should do with the bar and they said 'Let's make it into a sushi bar', and I am glad I listened to them.

"It just offers a perfect combination along with the main business of the steakhouse and I think, by adding the sushi bar to the restaurant that it gives us diversity, uses up an important space there and adds a little bit more edge to our business profile and I am excited about it."

Mr. Wilson, who ran Greg's Restaurant at Port Royal Golf Course in Southampton before relocating, took over the site of the former Mediterraneo Restaurant at the beginning of this year and is already reaping the rewards of his hard work of turning it into a thriving enterprise with his business partner and executive chef Colin Lloyd.

"Where we are, we have got all the government buildings and staff around us and we have also got all of the judicial lawyers and doctors in the area, so we have got a very good catchment area," he said.

"The first couple of days nobody knew about us, but last weekend we were full, and it is just all by word of mouth really - we get a lot of corporate business people coming out for dinner meetings.

"We have done an great job in putting it all together in such a short period of time and now it is all about just trying to keep it fresh and interesting for the customers - for us having this space available, it seemed only logical for us to make that transition to a sushi bar considering the talent and skills we have available to ourselves, namely in the chef Alex, who is a master at making sushi."

The sushi chef Alex Guilas, who started the first sushi bar in Bermuda at the former Marriott Castle Harbour Hotel in Tucker's Town 21 years ago, has a big following for his cuisine across the Island and when word got around he was going back into this highly specialised business, which takes no less than six years to train for, the customers have come flocking in their droves.

Mr. Guilas, who comes from the Philippines and has worked for the Holiday Inn and Marriott and Sheraton chain of hotels from the US and Canada to Saudi Arabia, to name but a few, moved on to the Wyndham Beach Resort & Spa (formerly the Sonesta Beach Resort) after his stint at the Marriott and then linked up with Mr. Wilson for the opening of Greg's Steakhouse, where he has been ever since. He has had to bring in a lot of specialist equipment for the preparation and cooking of sushi, including a refrigerated display case and knives, as well as the cleaning of dishes and cutlery, such as a high temperature dishwasher from New York. And alongside the standard range of fusion sushi dishes, such as miso soup, shrimp, crab and vegetable tempuras, pork ribs, calamari and tuna and seaweed salads, Mr. Guilas, also rustles up some different specials every day as well as cooking to order.

Mr. Guilas, who said he first went into doing sushi because it allowed him to combine his love of art and cooking, claims to have the edge over the competition when it comes to sushi cuisine due to his vast experience in the industry. The restaurant is open for lunch and dinner from Monday to Friday between 11.30am and 3pm and 6pm and 10pm, as well as dinner on Saturday between 6pm and 10pm, and is offering a 10 percent discount for Government officials from now until the end of October. For further information visit the website at www.gregssteakhouse.com