Chef Chris Kajioka is taking over the former Cafe Miro space in Kaimuki, in a partnership with Mourad Lahlou, a San Francisco chef with two Michelin stars to his credit.

Other partners in the venture are Justin Park and Tom Park of Bar Leather Apron, who, like Kajioka, have roots in Kaimuki. “I haven’t been this excited in a long time,” Kajioka said Friday. “It’s where I grew up.”

Miro Kaimuki will open in two to three months, Kajioka said, giving him part ownership of three Honolulu restaurants by early 2020.

He is chef and co-owner of the acclaimed downtown restaurant Senia and is opening Bar Maze in Kakaako, another collaboration with the Parks, also in the next couple of months. On top of that, he signed on in July with Howard Hughes Corp. as director of culinary operations for all of Ward Village. And he is culinary director for the Hotel Wailea on Maui, with a restaurant on the property.

It’s a full plate, Kajioka acknowledged, but the Kaimuki opportunity was too good to pass up. “It was fate — and something I couldn’t say no to.”

Cafe Miro closed Saturday after 23 years at 3446 Waialae Ave. Kajioka said the chance to take over from owner Shigeru Kobayashi came up only two months ago when Kobayashi decided to retire and sell the business. “I had respected him from afar. To be in one place for 23 years, that’s ultimate props. I know how hard it is. Huge respect.”

Private investors are helping finance the project, he said.

Kajioka goes back many years with Lahlou, who owns the Bay Area restaurants Mourad and Aziza. Both have earned Michelin Guide stars for their contemporary Moroccan menus. Kajioka opened Mourad in 2011 as chef de cuisine, and calls Lahlou “my brother.”

With chef de cuisine Trevor Webb, of the Los Angeles restaurant Kismet, they plan a menu of French and Japanese influences, similar to Cafe Miro’s. “We really want to keep the soul of it,” Kajioka said. “It has a good energy.”