SINGAPORE - A fire broke out at a Japanese restaurant at VivoCity on Friday (Dec 22), with the mall seen shrouded in thick smoke.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it was alerted to the incident at 1 Harbourfront Walk at 11.35am.

The fire involved the kitchen exhaust duct at the Shin Kushiya restaurant on the second storey, and it was put out by the company's emergency response team, SCDF said.

There are no reported injuries.

In response to media queries, a spokesman for Mapletree Commercial Property Management said that the incident was an isolated one and has not affected the normal operations of the mall.

The surrounding area has also been re-opened to the public, the spokesman said.

During the incident, the fire alarm and sprinklers were activated normally as well.

Its operational team will be investigating the cause of the incident with SCDF and "the tenant will make a decision on the resumption of business after they assess the situation," she said.

Civil servant Ephraim Lu, 35, told The Straits Times that he was heading for lunch at Monster Curry on the same floor when his surroundings became smoky.

He said: "It was really smoky, to the point where it was a bit hard to breathe, and I felt like I wanted to choke."

He added that the mall was not crowded at the time, although several curious onlookers were slowly moving towards the source of the smoke.

He added as there were no announcements made to get shoppers to evacuate, he and his group of five friends simply moved away from the fire and bought lunch at another eatery about 100m away.

As of 12.40pm, he said that the situation appeared under control and the smoke had dissipated.

Staff were seen mopping up water at the area outside the restaurant, which had been cordoned off.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.