Japanese restaurant comes to Grantham’s George Centre
The George Centre in Grantham has cooked up another business – a Japanese restaurant.
The Katana Japanese Restaurant will be a sister to a successful venture of the same name in Spalding.
Deepak Chatri, one of the partners behind the business, said the restaurant should be open by the end of the month.
He said: “In Grantham, there’s not a Japanese restaurant at the moment. This is not just a Japanese restaurant, it is modern Japanese with teppanyaki and sushi.”
Deepak, whose background is Nepalese, says he and his team can still produce great Japanese cooking as “all the staff have worked five to 10 years in Japanese restaurants in London and around the world.”
The location at the edge of the mall overlooks Guildhall Street and until two years ago contained a buffet-style restaurant. There is enough seating for nearly 100 diners, plus teppanyaki tables. Since the large site was previously a restaurant, it also contains many of the necessary fixtures and fittings.
Deepak said: “We are also happy with the George Centre. It is in the heart of town. We are confident that the George Centre will take off.”
“When we opened the resturant in Spalding, people were travelling 50-60 miles. Customers were excited, they were very happy.”
A focal point will be the teppanyaki tables, which will feature chefs cooking meat and other items in front of the diners.
“It’s going to be fun dining. It will be a very exciting restaurant not like any other. We want Grantham people to be proud of our restaurant, just like they are in Spalding.”
Since the first Katana Japanese restuarant opened in Spalding in 2016, diners on TripAdvisor have given it 4.5 stars, with 82 per cent rating it excellent, making it the seventh best of 93 restaurants in Spalding. The planned opening comes as the George Centre will also see a new patisserie opening in several weeks.
Nigel Thompson of London-based X Real Estate, who manage the centre, said contracts with another tenant were due to be signed this week, with more tenants expected in the next few months. He added: “It will become more of a shopping centre again.”
