Europe’s largest Japanese food hall, Ichiba has opened at Westfield London, as part of the centre’s £600m, 740,000 sq ft expansion, with over 3,000 Japanese products.
The 17,400 sq ft flagship store offers seats for 200 diners and features food stations dedicated to freshly prepared and cooked food.
There is street food, such as takoyaki octopus balls and veggie tempura, a noodle bar for traditional tonkotsu ramen, udon and yakisoba. Plus sushi, sashimi and katsu curry.
A fully stocked kaku-uchi sake bar, headed up by a sake sommelier, serves up hot and regional rice wines.There is also be a Japanese bakery and cafe, with melon or dorayaki pancakes, matcha brownies, rainbow lattes and more.
For beverages, there are matcha teas, three beers on draft - including Asahi on draft, cocktails, and hot sake too.
For all foodies, there are 'theatrical kitchens', where visitors can watch the food being craeted, and cooking demonstrations and workshops, and sake tasting seminars. There will also be regional food and drink festivals and other events coming up.
Ichiba is the first joint venture between Japan Centre Group and Cool Japan Fund, which helps support businesses to promote Japanese food and culture overseas.
The fund’s partnerships with local and artisan suppliers across Japan allows Ichiba to offer authentic products, and rare regional produce, from some of the best producers and farmers, exclusively to the UK.
