by TM Petaccia

Updated May 8, 2025

Like just about all new restaurants, Birdie Yang’s newest concept took a bit longer to come to fruition than originally planned. However, with final inspections in the books, the owner of Charlotte’s Baku and Yama restaurants is looking forward to opening this departure from his sushi/Japanese-focused concepts sometime next month.

“Sora is a French-Asian tasting menu concept,” Yang says. “We didn’t want to do another omakase place. We know there’s a bunch coming, and it’s not what we’re passionate about. We want to focus on fine dining. I think a lot of Charlotte has strayed away from the old fine dining. We want to bring it back in a Michelin quality. That was our plan even before the recent Michelin announcement.”

Now open at 2907 Selwyn Avenue, Sora, the 24-seat restaurant offers a tasting menu, averaging seven courses, give or take one or two, depending on the type of ingredients used and size of the portions. Currently the price of the tasting is $195, plus beverages.

Heading the kitchen is Dorji Tshering, who has been the executive chef at SouthPark’s Baku for the last ten years.

“I love cooking Japanese food, and I love eating French food,” Tshering says. “So I’m incorporating both into the menu. We will also focus on seasonal produce in the area. It’s really not going to be focused on one thing.”

“Local produce is the next big relationship,” Yang says. “We have some recommended farms, and we’ll build out from there.”

While Tshering isn’t ready to reveal specific dishes to expect, he can’t hide his emotions when it comes to the opening taste of a Sora diner’s evening. “I’m very excited about presenting the amuse-bouche,” he says. “The small bite that introduces the meal when people sit down. It gives you the idea of how the next course or the entire evening is going to be.”

A definite departure from Yang’s other concepts, which lean heavily toward sake pairings, Sora will be extremely wine-focused to match the more European focus of the menu. “We have space for about 900 bottles overall,” he says. “When we’re done, you can expect over 200 specific wines. We’re training two sommeliers in-house. The goal is to offer an extensive list of the finest wines to be found in the city. The plan is 70 percent wine, 20 percent cocktails, 10 percent sake. I want to allow people to have a glimpse of what enjoying a fine wine in a fine wine glass in a fine establishment feels like.”

Yang expects to offer a weekly rotating list of twenty wines by-the-glass along with the ample by-the-bottle offerings. “You don’t need to have five glasses of wine with your meal,” he says. “You can have one or two nice glasses of a really good wine without having to splurge on a full bottle.”

Of Sora’s 24 seats, about half of them will be at the bar. However, Yang stresses the point that it is not a cocktail bar. “It’s a dining space,” he says. “The final plating will be done behind the bar.” Cocktails will actually be made in a separate bar alcove, away from the seating area.

“I want to reintroduce what fine dining was in the past,” Yang says. “I’ve been all over the world and have eaten all the top places. I want to bring that caliber here and see what we potentially can be.”

“This has been a passion project for me and Dorji for a long time,” he says.