Japan

Coverage explores hospitality, food, and drink trends from across Japan, with reporting on regional cuisines, sourcing of premium Japanese ingredients, the global popularity of ramen, sushi, and izakaya formats, and the expansion of Japanese restaurant brands into the UK. Insight is tailored for chefs, menu developers, and concept leads tracking authenticity, presentation standards, and the operational models behind one of the world’s most influential culinary cultures.

Mar- 2021 -

2 March

Venues & Properties

Japan Centre to expand flagship London site

Japanese food hall, Japan Centre, has announced plans for a 7,000 sq ft expansion to its flagship London site in mid-March. Founded in 1976, the food hall located on Panton Street currently offers a range of over 3,000 products spanning food, drink, and lifestyle. The group will extend its ground…
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Oct- 2020 -

26 October

Comment

Pivoting during a Pandemic

You could have once argued that London’s Chinatown was one of the best spots to open a restaurant (prior to Covid of course), placed strategically just minutes away from the city’s theatre district, vendors could attract hungry musical goers and tourists right after they emerged from the latest West-End show. …
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Aug- 2020 -

14 August

Restaurants

Crockers Henley restaurant with rooms opens in Henley-on-Thames

Restaurant with rooms Crockers Henley has now opened its doors in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. Housed in a Grade II listed building in Henley’s Market Place, Crockers has a strong focus on “great food and immersive experiences in a relaxed and unpretentious environment”. The converted townhouse holds seven boutique bedrooms, two 16-seater…
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12 August

Restaurants

Haidilao chooses Bullring for first restaurant outside London

Hot pot restaurant chain, Haidilao, has selected the Bullring Birmingham or its first site in the UK outside of London. The 8,073sq ft restaurant will join Brown’s and Wagamama in St Martin’s Square, and is set to launch in early 2021. Founded in 1994 in China’s Sichuan Province, Haidilao now…
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Feb- 2020 -

28 February

Business Bites

Coronavirus sends ripples through markets, governments, companies and the public

Apologies for the repetition, but the new coronavirus is causing such a serious global reaction today it would be silly to focus on other things, so here are four key stories about what looks to be developing into a full blown international crisis. The FTSE 100 has lost nearly £200…
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Jan- 2020 -

29 January

Business Bites

British Airways gets flighty and Starbucks smells the coffee over coronavirus

The business response to the coronavirus situation, which appears to be developing into a serious crisis, continues apace today. British Airways today announced that it was suspending all flights between the UK and Wuhan, the Chinese city where the virus originally broke out. In a statement it said: “We have…
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4 January

Restaurants

Bulgaria’s Happy Bar and Grill to open first UK site

Bulgarian fast food chain, Happy Bar and Grill is set to open its first UK restaurant on the site of the Leicester Square branch of TGI Fridays in London. Happy Bar and Grill has 22 sites across Bulgaria and two in Barcelona, with its all-day manu expected to arrive in…
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Dec- 2019 -

18 December

Apps & Technology

London restaurants go paperless with digital receipts

Giraffe, Ed’s Easy Diner, Slim Chickens, Japan Centre and Sakagura have announced plans to use digital receipts over paper ones. Partnering with digital receipts platform Flux, they join KFC, Itsu and Just Eat in moving to paperless receipt technology. Flux found that the use of digital receipts has risen by…
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Mar- 2019 -

8 March

Pubs and Bars

London’s first Oden Bar extends residency due to demand

London’s first Oden Bar at Cubé restaurant in Mayfair will remain open until the end of May instead of the end of March like originally planned. The Oden Bar launched at the beginning of February as an informal and secret Japanese bar with 12 seats serving just one dish, hidden…
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Feb- 2019 -

22 February

Pubs and Bars

‘Secret Japanese bar’ launches at Cubé in Mayfair

An “informal and secret” Japanese bar, The Oden Bar, has launched in the lower ground of Mayfair restaurant Cubé with just 12 seats and only serving one dish. Oden is one of the oldest fast foods in Japan with roots stretching back hundreds of years and is typically eaten in…
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