London Connect

Several weeks ago, Piccadilly's Japan Centre moved its entire food section over to new site over on Regent Street, leaving its books and homewares department at the previous address.

As a long-time regular at the Japan Centre, I was bowled over by the shiny new premises. It was only a few years ago that the Centre was merely a cramped basement room located below the bustling Toku restaurant, where shoppers barely managed to squeeze past each other and queues snaked around and back up the stairs from which you would descend.

In the early years, the Japan Centre seemed to be the enclave of oriental students and those who were savvy enough to know where to find it. Slowly but surely, the word spread, perhaps buoyed by the cheap handmade sushi sold at the Yoshino counter, an outpost of the Yoshino restaurant on Piccadilly.  (Since then, Yoshino and Japan Centre have gone their separate ways; the former no longer supplies the latter, and now has its own sushi takeaway at 59 Shaftesbury Avenue).

In late 2007, JC expanded to the space next door, doubling in size and stocking a lot more goods than it had in the past: homeware, tableware and stationery began popping up in their inventory. Then, in April last year, they started up a modest in-house bakery, bringing out freshly-baked breads at around 11am each morning (and replenishing them in the early afternoon). A tiny selection of baked goods (around a dozen) included 'character buns' (soft, sweet buns made in the shape of popular cartoon characters, from the cat-faced Totoro and Doraemon to bread-based superhero Anpan Man) that delighted young'uns and nostalgic adults alike. That, too, grew and grew like an over-yeasted loaf until the bakery took over a large chunk of the Piccadilly store, selling everything from loafs of soft white bread marbled with matcha to brioche-like baguettes filled with yakisoba (stir-fried noodles) and teriyaki chicken.

They also brought in a matcha (green tea) grinding machine, upped their hot food offerings (gyoza, tempura, then eventually full-blown ramen) and added a few seats for eating in. A fish counter held salmon heads for soups and fish roe for salads and sushi while a chilling cabinet featured multicoloured mini puddings in flavours such as black sesame, pumpkin and red bean.

Just when you think it couldn’t get any more ambitious, they up and move. In its new gaff, the aisles are wide and spacious (something the old Japan Centres never had) and each section is distinct with neat rows of products.

The front half of the store is given over to a new operation - Umai Sushi Factory - that features metres of chilling cabinets filled with ready-made sushi and sashimi, pickles, salads and rice bowls for the microwave. On the other side, a new hot food counter is bigger than ever -Chinese-style dim sum is served (fluffy pork-filled buns or shumai, say), as well as Japanese gyoza, tempura and croquettes. Our takeaway miso ramen with barbecue pork hit the spot, and was miles better than a poor EAT 'pho' we tried a few weeks ago.

The fish counter is now more than just a holding spot for the odd piece of salmon head or slices of sashimi - it seems to be a seafood counter proper, with oysters, razor clams, prawns, cod roe and sea bass and trendy black cod among the offerings on our visit. However, it was disheartening to see conger eel (unsustainable and on the Marine Conservation Society's fish to avoid list).

The in-house bakery continues to bake up a storm, with little matcha/red bean biscuits, jasmine tea-scented muffins, curry breads and the ubiquitous cartoon buns (seen at the top of this blog) taking up several shelves of carby treats.

The fresh vegetable and meat sections have remained pretty much as small as its ever been - a limited selection of expensive beef and pork slices for shabu shabu (Japanese hot pot) are available if you want to splurge, while a modest selection of produce (daikon radish, Chinese cabbage and yams) are also pricier than the abundance found in nearby Chinatown.

Service so far has been sweet (especially handy if you need advice on what kind of sake to get from the chillers - there are literally dozens of brands available), though it can be hard to flag down someone as they dart about replenishing shelves and neatening up displays.

There are many Japanese supermarkets dotted around town these days (Arigato on 48-50 Brewer Street, say, or even Centrepoint Supermarket, which may stock primarily Korean goods but has a very comprehensive Japanese ingredient inventory), and many more out of central London. However, the constant improvement and rolling out of interesting new products that appeal to both Japanese and non-Japanese customers at Japan Centre is what impresses us so much. Now if you excuse me, I've got to digest the half-pack of freeze-dried natto (fermented soy beans) I ate while writing this...

JAPAN CENTRE FOOD HALL

14-16 Regent St, SW1Y 4PH (7434 4218/www.japancentre.com). 10am-9pm Mon-Sat; 11am-7pm Sun.