This January, Singapore's long-established restaurant brand CHATTERBOX opened its Japanese flagship in Marunouchi, central Tokyo. The opening introduces a style of Singaporean cuisine that helped bring street food into international hotel dining.
CHATTERBOX was founded in 1971 at the Mandarin Orchard Hotel in Singapore. Its concept was distinctive at the time, serving familiar local dishes such as Hainanese chicken rice and laksa in a refined hotel setting with consistent quality and service. This approach helped position Singaporean food for a global audience, and influenced how it would later be presented abroad.
The dish that defined the brand
The restaurant's best-known dish is Mandarin Chicken Rice, which has remained central to CHATTERBOX since its early years. The chicken is gently steamed in a fragrant broth, resulting in tender meat with a clean, natural flavor. The rice is cooked in the same stock, giving it depth without heaviness.
Each serving is presented as a complete set with soup and three sauces, including chili, ginger, and dark soy. This individual style of service proved well suited to hotel dining, and helped establish chicken rice as a dish that could be offered with both efficiency and consistency.
A Singaporean restaurant in Marunouchi
The Marunouchi location serves as CHATTERBOX's flagship in Japan and a base for future expansion in the region. It is located on the 5th floor of the Marunouchi Building, an area known for its concentration of offices, restaurants, and international visitors.
The interior uses warm wood materials and subdued colors to create a calm and comfortable atmosphere, with bar and table seating arranged to accommodate different dining needs. During lunch hours, natural light fills the space, while in the evening the view shifts to the surrounding cityscape, making it suitable for both business meals and casual dinners.
Classic Singaporean dishes
Alongside its signature Mandarin Chicken Rice, the menu leans into familiar Singaporean comfort food the brand has been known for since its early days. Dishes include Bak Kut Teh, a herbal pork rib soup served with fried bread, a rich Lobster Laksa in a coconut-based shrimp broth with fish cake, tofu, and quail eggs, and an Original Spice Chicken Curry in a Nyonya-style coconut sauce with vegetables like potatoes, okra, and eggplant.
A long-standing concept reaches Japan
With the opening of CHATTERBOX CAFÉ Marunouchi, a restaurant with more than fifty years of history enters Tokyo's dining scene. While the setting is new, the core idea remains unchanged, presenting familiar dishes with care and consistency.
For travelers interested in Singaporean cuisine and its evolution beyond Southeast Asia, CHATTERBOX offers an accessible introduction in a central Tokyo location. To make a reservation, please visit their official English site here.
