Pad Thai on the go

These exciting new fast service concepts are already being rolled out, and Mango Tree Kitchen’s inaugural Pad Thai outlet has now launched in Tokyo, taking Thai cuisine back to its street food roots by catering to diners on the move. Mango Tree’s new Pad Thai Kitchen is located in Tokyo Station, which handles approximately half a million passengers each day. This makes it the perfect setting for the new fast dining concept, which is able to serve large volumes of customers in ultra-quick time. 
Following the launch of the new Mango Tree Kitchen concept in Japan, a chain of 40 outlets is expected to be rolled out over the next three years, focusing on the busiest areas of major global cities. Other popular Thai dishes being focused on include pad grapow and khao mun gai. 
“We are extremely excited about the launch of our new Mango Tree Kitchen concepts, which will appeal to the modern appetite for high-quality food on the move, while embracing the global popularity of Thai cuisine,” said Mango Tree’s global managing director, Trevor MacKenzie. 
“Tokyo is the perfect launch destination for the new brand. Thai cuisine is very popular in Japan and the Mango Tree brand is well-established in the country, having operated there for 15 years. Japan also has a deeply-ingrained fast service culture, so we are confident that Japanese commuters and customers will embrace our new Pad Thai Kitchen concept,” MacKenzie added. 
A Thai street food favourite, pad thai combines stir-fried noodles with eggs, tofu, beansprouts and condiments. Diners at Mango Tree’s Pad Thai Kitchen will be able to order freshly made pad thai, either plain or with a choice of pork, chicken, beef and shrimps, plus special variations such as pad mi korat and pad ki mao. 
Eat-in and takeaway options are available, and the menu will change depending upon the time of day, allowing commuters to enjoy different variations on their ways to and from work, or as a quick lunch. 
With just 19 seats and over 500 customers per day, Pad Thai Kitchen at Tokyo Station, speed is key. However, every dish is cooked to order, with chefs delivering each dish in less than five minutes. Approximately 434 pad thais are sold daily, with more than two-thirds of diners eating in and a third taking away. Customers regularly queue outside the shop. 
To ensure the freshest ingredients, Mango Tree partners with a Japanese company based in Niigata to produce sen yai and sen lek rice noodles exclusively for Mango Tree Kitchen. 
The launch of Mango Tree’s Pad Thai Kitchen further expands the group’s presence in Japan, where it currently operates 24 Mango Tree and COCA Restaurant outlets, including seven Mango Tree Kitchens. These form part of a worldwide portfolio of 64 restaurants across the company’s various brands, including many in key global cities. 
“We look forward to introducing new Mango Tree Kitchen outlets to diners in Tokyo and across the world in the coming months and years. We believe this exciting new concept will appeal to a new generation of urban diners and commuters, while taking Thailand’s popular street food back to its traditional roots,” MacKenzie concluded.