Import ban not eating into restaurant business

Most eateries in city stock up Japanese food items for at least three months

Most eateries in city stock up Japanese food items for at least three months

Craving to tuck into your favourite sushi, but sceptical? Well, do not be. The government may have imposed a three-month ban on Japanese comestibles for fear of radiation contamination, but speciality restaurant owners said it would in no manner affect the look of their menu card.


Serving it up: Sushi lovers do not have to fret, for speciality restaurants
in city will continue to dish out this delicacy despite the ban on food
imports from Japan. File pic

This is because many ingredients -- indispensable for a scrumptious instalment of Japanese food -- are imported not only from Japan but also picked from local suppliers or sourced from the US, Singapore, Taiwan and Indonesia.

"We are not affected by the ban because we do not depend only on Japan for imports. And in the case of some items such as wasabi (or Japanese horseradish), we have enough stock to last us a few months," said Rita Sawhney, owner of Silk Route.

'Suppliers duty'
Imran Inamdar, manager, Arc Asia, said the responsibility to make the requisite comestibles available rested solely on the suppliers. "The items are easily available in the market. We have fixed suppliers who provide it to us. I am sure that they might face some problem, but we haven't been informed about it," he said.u00a0u00a0
Industry insiders said the number of patrons catering to Japanese cuisine was limited and most restaurants had limited dishes on their menu.

Abhijit Chaturvedi, vice-president of Hotel O, which owns Harajuku, said they had enough stock of imported food items from Japan. "We do not import perishable items because they will not remain fresh, and others such as soya sauce is available in all oriental countries," he said. "It's not just us, even the wholesaler and distributor have enough stock. Ours is a long supply chain."u00a0u00a0u00a0

Not contaminated
Vinay Dwivedi, a supplier, said the food items were free of contamination from radiation because they were imported before the catastrophe. "We have enough for three months," he said.u00a0

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