A new Japanese restaurant in the Sugar City seeks to provide a healthy cuisine for locals.

Ninja Noodles Restaurant is owned by Free Bird Institute Limited.

It officially opened its doors at the Retired Servicemen’s League (RSL) Club in Lautoka yesterday.

The new restaurant has employed four people who had lost their jobs because of COVID-19.

Chief executive officer of Free Bird Institute Limited Hiroshi Taniguchi said opening a restaurant was not a plan.

Residing in Fiji for several years now, Mr Taniguchi hopes the introduction of the traditional Japanese udon noodles will change people’s eating habbits.

“I have been residing in Fiji for quite some time. I have noticed that a lot of food consumed by many locals is unhealthy and I am here to change that,” he said.

“In Japan we always say ‘eat long, live long’, so today I introduce something new for you with our udon noodles providing that traditional cuisine and importantly, being a healthy meal for all our customers.”

The company’s chief operations officer, Mereseini Baleilevuka, said the idea to open a noodle restaurant in Lautoka came about in May last year.

“We said that the opening of a restaurant should be encouraged, because most of our teachers would lose their jobs because of the pandemic, so this will help us retain our employees,” said Ms Baleilevuka.

The business invested more than $20,000 on the machine that makes udon noodles. The machine can produce 1000 udon noodles a day, which are sold at $5 with your choice of flavours and toppings.

This is the sixth business venture under the Free Bird Institute Limited.

Opening Hours

The restaurant’s opening hours are from Monday to Friday, 11am to 7pm and on Saturday from 11am to 2pm.

Edited by Ivamere Nataro

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