Mother’s Day!

Posted on May 8, 2012 by Howard

Hello to all the mothers out there and an even bigger hello to all the children that want to please their mothers!

For you all that are still wondering what kind of treat you can give your mother, how about a meal at Standing Sushi Bar 8 Queen Street? We have a special Mother’s Day set available for 35 SGD… and don’t worry if you can’t make it on Sunday, it will be available from May 13 – May 20 so you have a week to celebrate with your mother!

Mother’s Day Meal ($35) includes

Tempura Moriawase (assorted battered prawns and vegetables deep-fried)
Gindara Mentai (Grilled cod with lightly spicy cod roe)
Beef Carpaccio (seared beef)
Daikon Salad
Ice Cream
Rice
Miso Soup

Book online for 8 Queen Street or call 6333 1335 to reserve a space!

Omakase at 8 Queen Street!

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Howard

Frequently after looking at a restaurant menu, I think, “Well, a bunch of the stuff looks good but I don’t really know what to pick.” However I don’t to take the effort of narrowing down exactly what I’m going to eat.

And that’s where Omakase (chef’s choice!) comes in.

You essentially leave it up to the chef to select what you’re going to eat.

At Standing Sushi Bar 8 Queen Street we are introducing a basic omakase for 29 SGD. It comes with 6 selections as well as rice, salad, and miso soup. The chefs will be changing this on a weekly basis so the picture above is just an illustration. Expect fish from our sushi bar, some items from our robatayaki counter, and then offerings from our kitchen.

Next time, leave it up to the chef! Book a seat by calling 6333 1335 or reserving online.

May Update

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Howard

Hello everyone! It’s been awhile since I’ve written about what is going on with Standing Sushi Bar. Aside from the entries about various promotions and menus that we are trying out I feel like I haven’t gotten a chance to talk about the other things that are happening. I suppose a big reason for this is, like any small business, when the owner gets busy certain things go on hiatus.

On the personal front I left my career of 14 years – I used to be a… I don’t know, community manager, platform evangelist, software tester for Microsoft and now I’m focused on building my own business. I thought there would be a month of having a good break but surprisingly opportunities came a-knocking and I’m working on a few different projects. One of the hardest things is to focus! Too many ideas, too little discipline to handle them all, and too many video games still to be played.

Indonesia

The first branch in Indonesia (Standing Sushi Bar at La Piazza) opened on January 15. We’re in the midst of finding a location for the second branch. Exciting! It’s crazy to think of simply how much larger Indonesia (and Jakarta) is compared to the tiny confine of Singapore. Certainly a prime location in Jakarta would be awesome but there are so many cities that are underserved by Japanese restaurants that the potential is great. Factor in significantly lower costs for rent, wages, and setup and you can see why so many businesses are trying to move into the country.

Look ma! So much space at Standing Sushi Bar La Piazza!

Singapore

I don’t know whether I can credit our Monday promotion, feng shui, or some random thing I did on the internet (bookings through Chope? Loyalty built through Perx?) but it’s as if folks have started stumbling into the 8 Queen Street restaurant. Business is up significantly (I hope this doesn’t jinx anything!) so that’s definitely great, especially after a hard 2011.

Maybe it’s cause I yelled at the air-conditioning people and finally got them to fix it? Hmm.

Over at Standing Sushi Bar Marina Bay Link Mall things have been chugging along nicely. We introduced new dinner sets and that has helped bring in more customers outside of the Raffles Place lunch hour crowd. I’ve been working on trying to get delivery started but it has been much harder than expected. Short of building a web ordering platform from the ground up, most of the solutions out there are tailored for the US market. There’s lots of room for growth over there (read: anything outside of lunch hours) and I’m excited about the upcoming opening of Marina Bay Financial Centre Tower 3… since it will bring in a ton of DBS Bank employees and it will be the biggest office tower in Singapore. On the flip side it is also going to bring in more competition with something like 11+ new restaurants, including a food court.

Expansion

Grow, grow, grow! I’m looking for new spaces to open Standing Sushi Bar in Singapore (and if anyone wants to talk about other countries, I’m open to it!). I was keen on the upcoming UE Biz Hub but not keen enough to sign at the rent they wanted. I’m hesitant about the amount of office crowd at Changi Business Park that is willing to spend on lunch at a price point above $8. With the opening of the Changi City Point mall and the upcoming UE Biz Hub, I feel like there will be a glut of restaurants all competing for the same type of customer… which is fine for an area like Raffles Place but possibly not for Changi Business Park. It will be interesting to see how these malls evolve.

New Concept

In a “spin-off” to Standing Sushi Bar (can you spin a restaurant off like a sitcom?) I’ve been working on a new food concept. I’ve almost settled on the first location for it, but since discussions with realtors and landlords can change at the drop of a hat, I can’t y where yet. I’m excited but also nervous about how fast this one is moving along.

May should be an interesting month!

Tea Set at Marina Bay Link Mall

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Howard

Raffles Place has a lot of quirks when it comes to having a restaurant there. From 12 PM – 1:30 PM it’s a sea of people… literally foaming at the mouth, flowing through the hallway and flooding the restaurants in the area. After 1:30 PM the people quickly recede back to their offices and it’s a slow drip until 6:00 PM when people start dropping in for dinner.

Since it’s the business district, people need tea breaks and places to hold chats; I figured we should offer a tea time special for the Raffles Place crowd that is looking for something different from the coffee and cakes.

3 Course Japanese Tea Set at Standing Sushi Bar Marina Bay Link Mall

Course 1 – Choice of: Salmon Skin Salad or Kani Avocado Salad
Course 2 – Choice of: Salmon Onigiri or Ebi Fry Handroll
Course 3 – Choice of: Furikake Onigiri or Salmon Skin Handroll

Price: 6 SGD
Available from 3 PM – 6 PM on weekdays

Facebook Tips for Brands & Businesses

Posted on April 3, 2012 by Howard

Justin Lee has written a good list of tips for brands and businesses that want to improve their management of a Facebook page.

Tip #3 about adding milestones to the page is kind of interesting. I feel like people are engaging frequently with businesses in a manner that is more conversational and buddy-buddy rather than viewing a business as something that is just there to provide a product or service. Adding milestones to a business’s Facebook timeline starts creating a shared history between the business and individual.

Back in time

Posted on March 1, 2012 by Howard

Facebook is switching every company’s page to the “Timeline” version that it applies to individuals. I’m actually a big fan of Timeline so I don’t mind the change that is coming. I know there are many folks that have not taken to the Timeline view. I wonder if it will somehow change the interaction between a business and Facebook users; I think Timeline’s design makes people want to share and engage more.

Anyway, I’ve been looking at the preview of Standing Sushi Bar’s timeline, and I flashed back to when we first opened. Our manager (and my good friend) Coral posted this:

“Opening willl be fantastical! with dancing beauty queens and chefs that speak swiss german! Please if you must bring your children know that we do not have anywhere to put them.”

I kind of miss that small spot! I definitely don’t miss the rent.

Pinterest for the restaurant

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Howard

I’m back from a week in New Zealand and unsurprisingly the jet lag is wreaking havoc with my sleeping patterns. I’ve been seeing a lot of updates from Pinterest recently so I figured insomnia is the perfect reason to go explore another one of these social media internet 9.0 communication enhancer people connector type of tools. And I must say, it’s kind of fun!

Basically you create a board (imagine a corkboard) and when you find an interesting photo you “pin” it to your board along with a comment. It’s an easy way of sharing. When you see other people’s pins you can “re-pin” their pin to your own board. It’s like re-tweeting someone’s message except this time it’s a picture.

It will be interesting to see how businesses utilize Pinterest. Still too early to determine whether there will be staying power or if it will just be another fad. The way I’m planning on using it for Standing Sushi Bar is to showcase restaurant information (food, promotions, etc.) as well as have people learn what our “spirit” is based on the things that I pin.

Valentine’s Day Set Dinner

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Howard

February 14 is just around the corner and that means love is in the air. Cue romantic music and visions of roses, rings, and magical red hearts. Not surprising that all of our reservations on Valentine’s night are for groups of 2. With that in mind, we are offering a special Valentine’s Day meal at Standing Sushi Bar 8 Queen Street and another set menu at Standing Sushi Bar Marina Bay Link Mall.

Book a table by calling +65 6333 1335 (8 Queen Street), +65 6634 7068 (Marina Bay) or mail eat@standingsushibar.com

8 Queen Street – VALENTINE’S DAY “COUPLE’S SET” – $88 per couple

Appetizer

Three types of Japanese appetizers for each of you

Sashimi

Marbled, colorful raw fish… assorted slices of yellowtail, tuna and salmon sashimi along with creamy uni

Main Course

Gindara Ohba Yaki – two servings of grilled cod seasoned with Japanese ohba leaf, adding a lively mint flavor

Robatayaki

Two sticks of skewered beef with enoki mushrooms
Two sticks of grilled chicken wings

Soup

Dobin Mushi – Japanese teapot seafood soup for two

Sushi

Six pieces of sushi including shiro maguro, ikura gunkan, and akagai

Dessert

Three kinds of ice cream served with waffle

Marina Bay Link Mall – Valentine’s Menu (98 SGD per couple)

Mix Salad

Appetizers
2 kinds of Japanese appetizers to get the appetite working!

Sashimi
Assorted sashimi (4 kinds, 8 pieces)

Maki
Special Valentine’s Day sushi roll

Main Course
Wagyu Beef Steak
Salmon Butteryaki

Chawan Mushi
2 chawan mushi

Kake Udon
2 udon noodle soup to cleanse the palate

Dessert
2 kinds of ice cream

Smartphones in a restaurant

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Howard

The LA Times ran an article titled “When diners’ eyes feast on their cellphones” It’s true how people now have their smartphone as an additional companion at the dining table – maintaining conversations with friends not at the restaurant, checking Twitter and Facebook updates, and taking pictures of all the food.

Excerpt:
“Ding. Bzzzt. Bap. Beep. That’s the sound of conversation in restaurants these days. Where cellphones once posed a nuisance as people chatted loudly into them during meals, they now present a whole new set of etiquette issues as entire tables disappear into the Internet via small glowing screens.

Like an analog world-munching Pac-Man, the modern cellphone has morphed into instant messenger, mailbox, camera, flashlight, computer, map, dictionary, newspaper, personal assistant and social media portal. And as such its use at the table has become so prevalent that “restaurants are now forced to incorporate how to deal with them into the sequence of service and table maintenance,” says Eric Rosenfeld, the general manager of the lush trattoria Il Covo, in Mid-City L.A., which has begun offering diners small plates to hold their phones in order to shield them from potential spills and dinner debris.”

Back from Jakarta

Posted on January 21, 2012 by Howard

Hello dear reader! (If there are any…) Hope you’re having a fine time easing into the weekend and getting ready for Chinese New Year. I recently came back from Jakarta and wanted to share some experiences from the opening of the first international branch of Standing Sushi Bar. It’s located in Jakarta at La Piazza Kelapa Gading.

The restaurant was scheduled to open on January 15, so I flew to Jakarta on January 13. I wanted to familiarize myself with the area and see if there was anything I could help with prior to the opening.

When I arrived, the restaurant looked like this…

Let’s say my first reaction was to ask, “So… are we really opening 2 days from now? I notice there is no furniture…”

Shortly after that one of the air conditioning units malfunctioned and dumped water all over the floor. That was exciting.

Well, there’s nothing a 24 hour construction cycle can’t accomplish and thankfully on opening day we had chairs, tables, and functioning air conditioners. For a bit I thought we were going to have to revert to the original Standing Sushi Bar concept with no chairs!

I’m sure any restaurant owner has the same opening day worry – what if no one shows up? I was doubly worried since we had done very little advertising of the restaurant in Jakarta. The main things were the Facebook page, a tie-in with one retail shop, and a banner along the main street.

I guess when the main street is full of Jakarta traffic, that leads to a lot of eyeballs.

Which thankfully brought in a lot of people on opening day!

The mall where we’re in is like an open air shopping plaza; though there are very few retail shops (you can find a ton in the adjoining mall called Mal Kelapa Gading) and instead it’s full of restaurants and cafes. There is also a movie theater on the top floor. One cool thing is that almost every night they have a live band playing on the outdoor stage. From Standing Sushi Bar’s balcony seating area we get a good view.

Here’s a daytime view of La Piazza:

Plenty of places to get a caffeine fix – Starbucks, J. Co, and Black Canyon Coffee come to mind. Since there was no internet access in the restaurant yet I was constantly buying coffee so I could use these cafes’ wireless internet.

I’m trying to learn more about the Jakarta sushi scene. If anyone has any pointers or comments about Japanese restaurants there, let me know!

Until next time!

(Oh, and Standing Sushi Bar Singapore sent a little greeting to the folks in Jakarta)