With 14 Japanese food outlets and more coming up, The Central in Eu Tong Sen Street is turning into a Japanese food hub
By Noelle Loh
AFICIONADOS of Japanese cuisine who have been flocking to The Central in Eu Tong Sen Street have good reason to rejoice.
The mall is set to see three additions to its already diverse range of 14 Japanese food outlets.
Teppanyaki restaurant Edogawa and organic, tofu-oriented restaurant Issui will be ready for business by the middle of next month.
A cafe offshoot of the dessert-tea house chain Azabu Sabo will open in October.
There is also talk that a new ramen shop might come up on the second floor soon.
This brings Far East Organization, the mall's developer, one step closer to turning The Central into a Japanese food paradise in the style of Decks Tokyo Beach.
Decks is a popular waterfront shopping-cum-entertainment complex in Tokyo's Odaiba district that offers a string of Hong Kong-themed eateries.
Opened this January, the five-storey Central has close to 200 retail shops and restaurants. Most of its Japanese restaurants are located on the third floor.
Mr Chia Boon Pin, chief operating officer of Far East Organization's retail business group, visited Japan several times to scout for restaurants to bring to The Central.
While not all of the eateries approached took up his offer, the four that did - Nippon-Ya, Kyomomoyama, Wakashachiya and Marutama Ra-men - are finding business at The Central generally good.
Ms Cammie Shu, marketing manager of Kyomomoyama, says the largest number of customers the 98-seat restaurant - which specialises in air-flown Japanese seafood - has seen in one day is over 250.
Meanwhile, Ms Tomoko Takahashi, director of nearby curry udon specialist Wakashachiya, is confident that her two-week-old business will grow.
And, of course, there is the well-known long queue at Marutama Ra-men, whose reputation for springy homemade noodles has spread by word of mouth over the past few months.
But fans like Japanese engineer Satoko Kumaki, 31, do not mind the wait.
'There are always long queues at famous ramen restaurants in Japan,' she explains. 'The ramen here is very authentic, like the ones back home.'
The local-owned Japanese restaurants are coming up with ways to keep up with the competition, they say.
Mr Steve Lim, assistant director of human resources at Waraku, says the menu will be changed annually.
Ms Joyce Lee, marketing and communications manager of the Apex-Pal group, says its Sho-U restaurant's walk-in crowd is 'relatively weak' but the company has found a niche in catering for corporate events.
Plans are afoot for The Central's basement level, too.
Currently, there are four Japanese outlets there: mini doughnut store Marcial Kobe, food gift shop Nippon-Ya, speciality snack store Yamakawa Super and bakery Petit Provence.
Mr Chia says a gourmet market, which includes a fish market set up through a local and Japanese tie-up, is in the works, but declines to reveal when.
Tax consultant Jeremy Nguee, 26, applauds The Central's Japanese theme but has one request: the addition of a Japanese sweet shop.
'Those that sell homemade jellies and snacks and serve tea. In those places, even the rice crackers come out fresh from the oven,' he says.
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01-46, Tel: 6534-7178
Opens: 10am to 10.30pm, Sundays to Thursdays; 10am to 11pm, Fridays and Saturdays
Scoop shop offering soft serves and Hokkaido ice cream in green tea, sesame and other Japanese flavours.
Price: From $3.30 for a vanilla soft serve to $45 for a 12-flavour Hokkaido ice cream takeaway pack
Kyomomoyama
03-87/100/101/110, Tel: 6534-8001
Opens: 11.30am to 11pm daily
Sushi, sashimi and grilled seafood items such as unagi in a modern, casual setting
Price: From $3 for a plain rice ball to $68 for a sashimi platter
Marcial Kobe
B1-40, Tel: 6534-7726
Opens: 11am to 10pm daily
Standalone store selling freshly baked mini doughnuts and mini Japanese pancakes in an assortment of flavours
Price: $4 for 12 mini doughnuts or 10 mini Japanese pancakes
Marutama Ra-men
03-90/91, Tel: 6534-8090
Opens: 11.30am to 9.45pm, Mondays to Fridays; 11.30am to 3pm and 5.30 to 9.45pm, Saturdays and Sundays
Hole-in-a-wall-style restaurant serving Japanese Marutama ramen, or chicken-based stock ramen.
Price: From $12 to $15 for main ramen items
Ma Maison Restaurant
03-96, Tel: 6327-8122
Opens: 11.30am to 3pm and 6 to 10pm daily
Different types of hamburger steak and pasta in an English cottage-style setting
Price: From $14 to $20 for main dishes
Nippon-Ya
B1-39, Tel: 6534-9020
Opens: 11am to 10pm daily
Boutique selling gift-packed Japanese food items and sake
Price: From $5.75 to $29.90 for food items and $13.70 to $86.70 for sake
Pasta de Waraku
02-82/83, Tel: 6534-8085
Opens: 11.30am to 11pm daily
Casual diner with kitsch food displays serving pasta cooked in Japanese-style sauces
Price: From $10.80 to $18.80 for pasta dishes
Petit Provence
B1-29, Tel: 6534-9029
Opens: 11am to 10pm daily
Counter-service branch of the Holland Village bakery selling wassant, or Japanese soft bread, and croissants in assorted flavours.
Price: From 50 cents for one wassant to 80 cents for a chocolate croissant with a chocolate bar in the middle
Sho-U
03-85/102/108/109, Tel: 6534-8066
Opens: 11am to 10.30pm daily
Sophisticated, contemporary eatery offering Western-influenced Japanese food
Price: From $30 to $50 per person
Sun with Moon Japanese Dining and Cafe
01-70/71/72, Tel: 6534-7784
Opens: Noon to midnight daily
Riverside restaurant bar-cum-tea house with a menu that features kamameshi, or Japanese claypot rice
Price: From $3.80 for an edamame (green soybean) appetiser to $80 for a luxury sashimi set
Tom Ton
03-88/99, Tel: 6327-7887
Opens: 11.30am to 11pm daily
Black pig dishes served in a posh yet cosy setting
Price: From $4 for a stick of chicken and leek yakitori to $66 for a black pig yaki shabu set for two
Wakashachiya
03-92/93/94/95, Tel: 6534-9984
Opens: 11.30am to 3pm and 5 to 10.30pm daily
First international branch of the 63-outlet curry udon restaurant chain from Japan
Price: From $4.20 for edamame appetiser to $18 for a hitsu-mabushi, or unagi-topped rice and dashi soup set meal
Waraku
03-89/97/98, Tel: 6327-8860
Opens: 11.30am to 11pm daily
Well-loved casual dining restaurant specialising in kaminabe, or paper pot soup, and houba dishes - food served on a heated houba leaf coated with miso paste
Price: From $8 to $16 for main items
Yamakawa Super
B1-28b, Tel: 6534-9518
Opens: 11am to 10pm daily
Speciality convenience-style shop retailing seasonal Japanese confectionaries, snacks and drinks
Price: From 80 cents for Furuta Sequoia, a type of wafer chocolate to $100 for a coffee gift set
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