Japanese restaurant Jinjo gets formula right to stand out in a crowded scene

Japanese restaurant Jinjo's luxurious truffle rice cooked in a donabe. PHOTO: JINJO RESTAURANT
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(THE BUSINESS TIMES) - Something's happening on the second floor of Shaw Centre. Once a veritable dead end beyond the Spanish restaurant Taperia, someone has sprinkled magic powder and, almost overnight, sprouted a collection of slick eateries which now give diners reason to venture those few extra steps from the escalator.

That someone is the Les Amis group, which has been on an opening spree of late. Having outgrown its monopoly of restaurants on street level, it has created a mini dining enclave on the second level with fresh concepts targeted at the mid-high price range. Apart from the much-bigger Tarte - Cheryl Koh's line-up of designer pastries - there is also a cosy tapas bar run by Taperia, and Jinjo, which manages to find a fresh niche in the overcrowded Japanese food scene with its emphasis on sumiyaki and donabe rice pots.

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