Arts
Japanese cuisine comes to WTC
Pix by Priyantha Wickramaarachchi
Easily accessible and right in the middle of where the corporate giants reside, Akihabara opened on the third floor of the World Trade Center in late August with a traditional Sri Lankan welcome complimenting the warm Japanese ambience of their cafe & restaurant.
Chairman of Lion Sight Forex Trading Limited (LSFT) Hiroshi Morisaki has expanded his area of expertise by venturing into the culinary world by opening Akihabara.
He hopes it is used as a ‘hub’ by corporate associates and others.
LSFT is also heavily involved in the agricultural sector in Sri Lanka, with an industrial research and training centre in Walpita. Integrating the two ventures, Hiroshi Morisaki tells the Sunday Times, ‘Our produce we get it from our Walpita farm and we wish to provide the best food with organic produce.’
To celebrate the launch, a grand spread of Japanese cuisine was laid out on their cafeteria style counters. Akihabara appears to offer what they advertise and that is to allow Japanese and locals to feel comfortable to use the cafe & restaurant as a meeting point for either business and leisure.
Akihabara gave us a glimpse into their menu with their buffet. For starters there was miso soup that was accompanied by tofu. From thinly sliced salmon and tuna sashimi, they offered a fine array of maki rolls filled with different fillings of avocado, cucumber and other vegetables, nigiri — thin slices of raw fish and prawn over pressed rice and sushi rolls. All the dishes were accompanied by the standard pickled radish and ginger, fiery wasabi and soy sauce.
For those who would rather have their food cooked, they also served a lovely garlic fried rice that was not overpowering, steamed rice, teriyaki chicken with a sticky sweet glaze, chicken karaage that had unfortunately lost its crisp due to it being fried earlier on and tempura prawns as well. For dessert they had fresh fruit and agar jelly with cream.
Akihabara brings in a welcome Japanese cuisine to the cluster of restaurants and cafes located in the World Trade Center.
