Maki-San opens first sushi counter in a petrol station, made-to-order rolls and yakitori available
Sandwiches, cakes, curry puffs — all common snacks typically found in the mini mart of a petrol station. But freshly made-to-order sushi at a dedicated counter? We’ve never seen that before. Local fusion sushi roll joint Maki-San opened its first takeaway kiosk on March 4 within a FairPrice Xpress at Esso Toa Payoh. Two Maki-San staff are stationed here to craft customisable rolls with your choice of 70 types of fillings, mostly cooked items like ebi tempura, crab stick, and only one raw option of salmon sashimi.
Is this the first sushi counter within a petrol station in Singapore? Says Maki-San’s director, Keegan Chung, 34: “Yes, I would think so”.
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Is sushi sold at a petrol station really fresh?
Maki-San’s new Esso outlet is pretty compact, but equipped with a small frying and grilling station for hot food, plus a counter for staff to roll sushi on the spot. With the exception of raw salmon, all their customisable ingredients for the rolls are cooked. What if folks question the freshness of sushi sold at a petrol kiosk? Keegan assures that “this outlet follows the same operational procedures as other shops”, adding that the “sushi, salads and other snacks are prepared fresh upon order”. The ingredients are also stored in a chiller to maintain freshness throughout the day.
Esso Toa Payoh
Keegan tells 8days.sg that they “wanted to serve the community at Toa Payoh for the longest time, but a shop leasing opportunity never came up at Toa Payoh Hub”. Eventually, they got the chance to rent a spot at Esso station in Toa Payoh, and decided to give it a go.
Keegan explains: “I guess it’s something new to us - we’ve not tried operating a shop in a petrol station before, but the location is pretty good. And we mainly operate in heartland malls, so we thought, ‘why not’?”.
Even though it’s located in a 24-hour Esso station, Maki-San will follow their regular opening hours of 10am to 9.30pm here.
The homegrown brand claims to be Asia's first DIY sushi and salad eatery. It opened in 2012, and currently has over 20 outlets islandwide.
Full menu available, with exclusive yakitori sticks
Maki-San’s full menu will be available at this kiosk, including their signature hefty sushi rolls (from $8.90) and salads ($11.10), with customisable ingredients like omelette, salmon sashimi, tuna mayo, and kimchi. Prices here are the same as at other outlets.
A new range of donburi bowls will also be available, including Karaage Chicken ($10.10) and Tempura Soft Shell Crab ($14.10).
Karaage Chicken Donburi
Also new here: yakitori sticks, which will be introduced within the next two weeks and are exclusive to the Esso outlet for the time being.
The sticks (from $1.70) are grilled fresh onsite, with offerings like chicken thigh, quail egg, chicken gyoza, green pepper chicken and tamagoyaki.
Maki-San’s new outlet is at Esso Toa Payoh Lor 2, 399 Toa Payoh Lor 2, S319640. Open daily 10am - 9.30pm. More info via their Instagram and Facebook.
Photos: Maki-San, Nestia
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