Japan Centre to relocate to Soho next month
Japanese food hall Japan Centre is set to open its new flagship site on Panton Street in London Soho in mid-September, relocating from Shaftesbury Avenue.
The new "depachika" (the Japanese word for a basement food hall) will be set around a central 100-cover dine-in courtyard. As well as the main food hall, the venue will have three specialist rooms dedicated to tea, sake and miso; open kitchens and a live demo kitchen.
The food hall will offer a wide range of fresh, dry and packed goods, as well as a Japanese bakery; fruit and vegetable stalls; fresh sashimi, fish and meat counters; frozen food; and a homeware section including books, magazines, ceramics, gifts and a gift wrap area.
Visitors will have the option of take out from the main deli counter, which will offer a selection of freshly prepared ramen, hand-pulled udon, Japanese curry, gyoza and tempura.
The first Japan Centre opened in 1980 as a bookshop and martial arts equipment store on London's Brewer Street, and has since grown to become one of the largest Japanese shops in London. Japan Centre relocated from Regent Street to Shaftesbury Avenue in 2013.
The company's chief executive, Tak Tokumine, also owns Shoryu Ramen, which has 10 sites in the UK in London and Manchester, and last year partnered with the Toridoll Holdings Corporation and sake manufacturer Gekkeikan to open Sakagura with two-Michelin-starred chef Mitsuhiro Araki.
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