Interview With Teppan Dining SUN in Sano-city

Written by Hafizah Khusni

Just an hour’s drive from the northern edge of Tokyo, is the Sano city of Tochigi Prefecture, home of the famous Sano Premium Outlets.
Many tourists are coming to Sano city to shop at this Premium Outlet since this is the largest outlet center in Kantou area. Besides, Sano city is putting efforts in making the city as one of Muslim-friendly city in Japan so that everyone, Muslims and non-Muslims from all over the world are welcomed to enjoy this beautiful city.

A few restaurants in Sano have started to serve Muslim friendly menus, and one of them are Teppan Dining Sun. Here is the interview with Mr. Ooga Norifumi, the owner of Teppan Dining SUN regarding how and why they are interested to try serving Muslim-friendly menu.

Hafizah: Please describe Teppan Dining SUN shortly.
Mr.Ooga: Teppan Dining SUN is located just about 1 minute walk from the JR Sano Station South exit. Our main cooking is meat and vegetables grilled on a hot plate which is called Teppanyaki in Japanese. We use local vegetables, and our restaurant’s concept is simple with a touch of modern interior. We also provide Halal menus for Muslims customers.

Hafizah: Why you decided to start serving Halal menu?
Mr.Ooga: I have a Muslim friend from Pakistan and I know about Muslim’s restrictions regarding food and difficulty of having outside meals especially in Japan from him. I wanted to help and just when I thought about serving Halal menus, I heard that Nikkoken; a ramen restaurant near us are already started serving Halal ramen and gyoza to Muslim customers. We received a lot of advices and helps from Nikkoken and finally able to start serving Halal menu.

Hafizah: When did you start to serve Halal menu in your restaurants?
Mr.Ooga: We started serving Halal menu from October 2015.

Hafizah: What kind of Muslim customers are coming to your restaurant?
Mr.Ooga: Mostly are young adult customers ranging from 20 to 40 years old, families and groups of friends. We also received customers coming far away from another prefecture, and we are really shocked but at the same time feeling really grateful and happy to serve customers like them.

Hafizah: What is the Halal menu available at your restaurants?
Mr.Ooga: We have shabu-shabu set, gyudon, chicken steak, Japanese Halal beef and chicken sausage, seasonal grilled vegetables, burger steak, lamb chops, Japanese beef Miyazaki herb sirloin steak, beef Miyazaki herb fillet, gyoza and fried chicken.

Hafizah: What is the most ordered menu by Muslim customers?
Mr.Ooga: Gyudon and burger steak is famous among our Muslim customers. Lamb menu is also gaining its popularity since we started serving it not long time ago.

Teppan Dining SUN