Entering Kakureru in Melaka, you’re transported to the streets of Japan. The restaurant is designed to mimic yokochos, narrow alleys packed with small, traditional Japanese pubs and restaurants.
With moody lighting and swanky music, this spot can be best encapsulated as “a vibe.” The name “Kakureru” refers to “hidden” in Japanese, referring to the speakeasy influences of the spot.
Sporting such a refined and finessed aura, it’s no surprise that the restaurant was founded by true veterans of the F&B industry. The team behind this vibrant restaurant in Melaka is none other than the one behind Wa Zen Japanese Restaurant, one of the most popular spots in town serving Japanese fare that got its start in 2007.
Serendipitous timing
Officially known as Kakureru Izakaya Japanese Restaurant, this one-year-old spot in Melaka focuses on chill vibes, good grub, and beautiful aesthetics.
“My husband, Sean, originally wanted to open a small bar above Wa Zen,” Wonderful, one-half of the co-founding couple behind Wa Zen, explained in an interview with Vulcan Post. “But then we thought opening on the third floor would make it inconvenient, especially if guests were intending to drink. Plus, it lacked street visibility.”
By fate, though, they found a suitable store location in Taman Kota Laksamana. The height of the space also seemed perfect for a past idea they had—to replicate the Japanese streets indoors, in Melaka.
“When we were in Sapporo, we had seen similar concepts on a ramen street that felt super vintage. So we thought with this height, we could replicate that ‘old town’ vibe inside,” the co-founder elaborated.
The timing, though, was perfect. They had encountered the space pre-Covid, and were intending to renovate. Unfortunately, there were delays with the interior designer they were working with, and then MCO restrictions occurred.
They had to pause renovations, but even when it was possible, they took a long time decorating the space, making sure everything was up to standards. There were many small tweaks to perfect the details. Ultimately, it took more than a year to get renovations done.
Once everything was up to their visions, Kakureru officially opened on May 15, 2025.
Introducing a new culture to Melaka
Even as experienced entrepreneurs who have run Wa Zen since 2007, there was still room for growth.
Starting Kakureru, there were new challenges and lessons to be learnt. At first, in the first six months or so, things were a bit chaotic, but the teams eventually learnt how to balance running two restaurants.
“Melakan diners also seemed wary of the concept at first. The sort of dim and chill bar vibes didn’t seem the most acceptable to some of them,” Wonderful mused.
But that was exactly what the team wanted to introduce to Melakans. Oftentimes, local diners could only expect such concepts in bigger cities such as Kuala Lumpur, or even down in Johor Bahru.
“That Happy Hour culture is so popular in KL,” she said. “Workers would go out and chill before heading home, so we wanted to create this space to relax too.”
Bringing that swanky and hip ambiance commonplace in other F&B spheres to the historic city of Melaka wasn’t the easiest task, but eventually, they managed to find their audience. With live music every day, Kakureru has grown over the past year to embody that chill hangout place they aimed for.
With an izakaya slant, you can find dishes typical of these casual Japanese haunts such as yakitori, ramen, okonomiyaki, as well as find fan favourites from Wa Zen. ‘
Building upon a stable foundation
Having built a reputation for Japanese fare in Melaka for nearly two decades, Wonderful and Sean endeavour to continue doubling down on what they do best—high quality food in a nice environment.
The launch of Kakureru came some 17 years after they first opened their restaurant, but with how things have turned out for the couple, it goes to show that certain good things take time.
As such, they don’t plan on expanding at great speeds, but want to scale with intentionality. For one, they’re working to renovate Wa Zen, keeping it fresh and relevant. A karaoke-focused concept might be in the works too, she revealed.
For those who plan to venture down the F&B path, Wonderful’s advice hinges on one important thing—hard work.
“Even as someone with so much experience, it was so chaotic opening Kakureru at first,” Wonderful shared. “Take things step by step. There’s no two ways about it.”
- Learn more about Kakureru Izakaya here.
- Read other articles we’ve written about F&B businesses here.
Featured Image Credit: Kakureru Izakaya / Phinicss Yee via Google