SearchFeatures
Buy & SellLifeExtra Services |
Newly opened Chinese Restaurant catching heartsBy: KC Date Posted: 2001-06-29   Tomoko’s father is a chef in a Chinese Restaurant in Naha City. She says she was watching his cooking since her childhood. “For a long time I was wondering if it would be possible to attract more customers to a Chinese restaurant if the prices were cheaper,” she says. She said that her dream has always been to have a chance to open her own restaurant where she could try her own ideas. She finally opened her first in Chatan Town six years ago. Now she has realized her dream and owns three restaurants where customers can choose from a menu containing plenty of dishes with cheap prices. In Dragon, a portion of ramen noodles weighs 200 grams for one person. A regular standard is 150 grams in ordinary ramen shops. The price for Gyoza dumplings is only ¥220 per person. She says with strong confidence, “I do not plan to raise prices of my dishes anytime in future. I may even want to dare to go lower.” She is also justifiably proud of the taste of each dish. “I spent my youth practically living in a Chinese kitchen, so I know how the dishes should taste,” she says. Dragon restaurants in Chatan Town and Okinawa City gained some notoriety when she organized some promotional events that most of her customers found quite exciting. On January 3 this year, the very first day of business for her restaurant this year, she held Jankenpon (rock, paper and scissors) matches in the restaurant. Customers who won the game could eat ramen for free, and if they didn’t, they could still eat at half price. Higa says, “I organize two events to please our customers each year, such as Jankenpon matches and lotteries. Those events are really fun. We enjoy ourselves too.” According to her, almost one thousand customers visited her restaurants for the event last year. Tomoko doesn’t care about the total income of that day. She says, “This is the day of us giving thanks to customers. So that’s all right. We don’t care how much it cost. We just want to see the customers having fun at our event.” For the restaurants’ anniversaries, she organized lotteries. Customers could win black and white T-shirts. On top of that, all dishes were served at half price. Higa is now busy planning events for this coming July. It is a sure bet that customers can expect something interesting, but she does not want to talk about the event just yet. “Just wait. I’ll let everybody know in time,” she smiles. How to get there: 1. To get to Dragon Midori Branch in Gushikawa City, take Route 330 from Okinawa City and drive down to the Agena Crossing, go straight seeing a gas station on the right side. After the gas station, Dragon is across from Book Box. Phone: 098-973-5688 2. To get to Chatan Branch, drive north on Hwy 58 from Camp Foster Kitamae Gate, turn left at the first traffic light. Dragon Chatan Branch is on left side of the street. Phone: 098-926-2078 3. To get to Awase Branch, take Route 329 south from Takahara Intersection in Okinawa City. Turn left at McDonald’s, and Awase Branch will be on right side of the street close to Daiei Hyper Mart. Phone: 098-933-9680 |
   
|
