LONDON: JAPAN CENTRE

Website: https://www.japancentre.com/en

Address: 19 Shaftesbury Avenue, London W1D 7ED

Opening Hours: 10AM - 9:30PM except Sundays (10AM - 8PM)

Okay so I know this is supposed to be about my Oxford elective, but I was travelling to London on most weekends to visit relatives and because London. Seriously, there would never be a reason ever to not come to London.

I was just walking around by myself on a Sunday evening after checking out Central London again when I chanced upon the Japan Centre at Shaftesbury Avenue, which is a stone throw’s away from the Piccadilly Circus tube station. (Apparently, there’s another Japan centre at Victoria Industrial Estate but like, why would I ever go there?) It has a very inconspicuous entrance; in fact I would’ve missed it completely, had I not actually been enticed by the udon stall along the pedestrian walkway near the street. 

Behind the udon stall is the main entrance, where you’ll find the escalators leading up to the main centre. There are a few cramped aisles of Japanese merch and food stuff, and some desserts and ready-to-eat bento packs (around 5-7GBP). If you’d prefer a warm meal, there’s a restaurant at the back selling kare raisu and the like for about 6-10GBP. The centre is really small though, so there were only a few tables for dining in.

I got a kare raisu with green tea latte for about 11GBP, a mochi an pan (sweet bread with red bean paste and rice cake filling) for about 2GBP, and a few Meiji chocolates (the ones which come in tubes) for my teenage cousins.

Not a bad idea for weary tourists craving some legit Japanese food, at the same time conveniently getting some novel Japanese food stuff while enjoying your lunch. Perhaps not a good idea if you’re dining with a huge group.

Btw, the mochi an pan is to die for. I literally bought at least two every time I popped by the Japan Centre.

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