Japanese’s biggest pop group, AKB48 from Japan, has set up its very own themed cafe in Singapore – a world’s first.
Singapore is the first overseas base for the group. AKB48 Cafe joins the Theatre “Live” Series concerts and Singapore Official Store at *SCAPE. Local fans will get first-dibs at the AKB48 Official Cafe, as this does not even exist in Japan.
So who is AKB48?
AKB48 is a Japanese idol group project started by Yasushi Akimoto in July 2005. Akimoto held an audition for a new theater based idol girl group. Of the 7,924 girls that applied, only 24 girls were chosen to be in the group. In November, the selected girls went through an extensive one month training program.
On December 1st, the AKB48 Theater in Akihabara (a district in Tokyo) had its grand opening. On December 8, 2005, the group held its first public show in the theater with only 20 girls, later known as Team A. The girls perform regularly in their theatre. Akimoto’s idea, was to create a theater-based idol group whose fans could see the girls live daily.
Currently, AKB48 consists of four teams: Team A, Team K, and Team B with 16 members each and Team 4 with 12 members, summing up to a total of 60 members as of July 24, 2011.[9] Additionally, there are a number of aspiring members, who are called “kenkyūsei” (“trainees”). Each team produces a new own concert show each theatrical season.
Its full menu consists of close to 50 modern Japanese fusion cuisines and desserts. Each lunch and dinner set comes with a main and a choice of soup or salad.
One of the top selling favorites is the Omu Curry Rice. It is the perfect hearty dish on a brisk day. The omelette wrap was perfectly cooked and yummy runny egg at the side went well with the hot tomato rice inside. At $14.90, the omu rice was smothered with delicious beef curry was not too heavy nor greasy, with thick beef chunks.
Japone Pasta ($15.90) is cooked with several kinds of mushrooms including juicy portobello. The pasta was cooked with very light olive oil and seasoned with Japanese soy sauce. Very light and healthy.
Anyone who is into Japanese food knows that katsu curry is wickedly wonderful. What makes Katsu Curry Rice ($18.90) here stand out from other curries is that the meat is breaded and fried before having a luxurious silky curry sauce slathered all over it.
Oh yes, see the miniature flag on top? Selected food items will be decorated with collectible AKB48 miniature flags. Each flag contains the name and picture of an AKB48 member. Diners can take home the miniature flags served with their meals.
The floats were named after three teams – strawberry icecream float for team A; honeydew melon for team K and ocean for team B. I love the taste of the last one – it’s got mystique while the other two were straight-forward.
Diners can also look forward to exclusive AKB48 video screenings specially created for the cafe here, and get a chance to meet with their idols when they are in town. The cute staff (first picture) will also be interacting with diners in singing, dancing and games.
AKB48 Café
Address: *SCAPE #03-02
Website: www.akb48.com.sg
Opening Hours: 11.30am to 9.30pm daily
