Thursday, June 25, 2009

ION Orchard to add more buzz to food scene

SOME well-known Asian names are looking to inject more life into the food scene here when they open at ION Orchard next month.

Tokyo's Ginza Bairin, for example, will bring its breaded pork cutlets to the table, and Watami, its brand of casual dining and Yakult-concocted drinks.

Chinatown's famous bak kwa seller Lim Chee Guan will also open there, marking its first foray outside Chinatown.

Dunkin' Donuts will make a comeback to the scene, after a decade-long absence.

Briefing reporters in the run-up to the debut of the mall, Ms Soon Su Lin, the chief executive officer of Orchard Turn Developments, said the mall was on track for its soft opening on July 21.

All its 333 tenants were working towards opening on that date as well, she added.

Four weeks to opening, almost all the available space has been leased out. Tenancy stands at 94 per cent, no mean feat for a new mall.

Food is apparently big on the agenda there, with 21 per cent of its 640,000 sq ft of lettable space given over to food-related businesses.

About half the 125 food-and-beverage outlets there are either new concepts or new to the Singapore market.

Fine-dining restaurants aside, the mall will also house a food hall with 80 stalls offering the best of local hawker fare and international flavours.

Ms Soon said: "There should be something to appeal to all tastes and all budgets."

Even as ION Orchard gears up for its debut, some shops in Orchard Central down the road have opened in the last week to cash in on the ongoing Great Singapore Sale.

The mall, with 80 per cent of its units taken, will have its soft opening early next month, said its spokesman.

ION Orchard, Orchard Central and 313@Somerset, to be officially opened near year's end, are the first in years to be built from scratch along the prime shopping strip.

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