A Japanese soup curry restaurant at Aberdeen Centre is transforming into a late-night izakaya eatery on Fridays and Saturdays.
In addition to extended hours, Garaku, a Japanese chain restaurant that specializes in Hokkaido soup curry, will launch its new late-night Japanese izakaya menu at the end of September.
Izakaya is a type of informal Japanese bar serving drinks, small dishes and snacks.
Owner Oakley Chan told the Richmond News they have received permission from the mall to extend their operating hours until midnight from its previous closing time of 9 p.m.
Late-night hours have already begun, but the izakaya menu, still being finalized, is expected to be released in two weeks' time.
But diners can expect items such as wings, sushi, sashimi, kaisen dons, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks as well as their specialty soup curries.
Chan said, by extending the restaurant's hours, he wanted to create a space for a large group of friends to drink and converse in a comfortable environment.
"People tend to find places to drink and hang out with their friends instead of going to clubs now. That's the trend I'm seeing, at least with my friends," he said.
"When you have a big group of friends, it can get really expensive in clubs."
Garaku is Chan's first restaurant venture and the Richmond location has its own specialty items such as beef brisket soup curry -- an item created from his mom's recipe.
"It's not in Japan and because it's now one of our bestsellers, Japan's headquarters is asking us for the recipe and bringing it to their Japan locations," said Chan.
"The chain owner is really amazing to work with because they allow us to do what we want in our restaurant to cater to the local customers -- as long as we are using their soup curry base, of course."
After the mall closes, customers will be able to access the restaurant from the main floor mall doors of the parkade.
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