Best Japanese Restaurants in Singapore: 2026 Guide

"Tomoo Kimura's kombu-jime sushi counter at Palais Renaissance, one Michelin star since 2018, Singapore's most disciplined omakase. Reserve weeks ahead."

Tomoo Kimura opened Sushi Kimura on the second floor of Palais Renaissance on Orchard Road in 2017 after twenty years working sushi counters in Tokyo and Niigata, and the restaurant earned its first Michelin star in the 2018 Singapore guide. It has held the star continuously since. The counter seats fifteen across two hinoki sections; Kimura works the long pass himself with two apprentices and a sake sommelier behind the bar.

The kitchen's distinguishing technique is kombu-jime. Kimura cures roughly six of the fifteen nigiri toppings on the omakase progression in Hokkaido rishiri kombu, with curing times ranging from thirty minutes (light flat fish) to eighteen hours (mackerel, kohada, kuruma ebi cooked then cured). The shari is a blend of Yamada-Nishiki and Akitakomachi rice, vinegared with a forty-year-aged akazu from Mizkan; the temperature at hand-pass is held two degrees above body temperature. The single omakase at S$450 (US$335) runs approximately 22 courses — tsumami flight, fourteen nigiri, hand roll, soup, dessert — across two hours. Sake pairing at S$220 per person.

Reserve six to eight weeks ahead via the hotel concierge (the restaurant does not accept international direct bookings; the Goodwood Park, Mandarin Oriental, and Fullerton Bay handle most non-resident reservations). Closed Sundays.

"Eight-seat sushi counter at One Fullerton facing Marina Bay, the city's most concentrated Tsukiji-school omakase. Fly in for it once."

Shoukouwa occupies a small room on the second floor of One Fullerton on Marina Bay, with an eight-seat hinoki counter and a single dining room of six seats. The restaurant opened in 2016 as a collaboration between the Lo & Behold group (Singapore-side) and the head chef from the Tokyo-based Shoukouwa lineage; it earned two Michelin stars in 2017 and has held a Michelin star continuously through subsequent guide editions. Fish is sourced from Toyosu market with four scheduled-delivery flights per week from Tokyo.

The omakase progression sits at twenty courses: a six-piece tsumami flight (chawanmushi with sea urchin, kelp-cured ankimo, hot-water-blanched bonito, simmered abalone, grilled isaki, and the head chef's tamago), then twelve nigiri working from white-fleshed fish (shima-aji, tai, hirame) through silver-skinned (kohada, saba) and concluding with kindai-aged akami and chu-toro from bluefin tuna. The price sits at S$450 dinner, S$280 lunch; sake list at 95 labels, mostly Niigata and Yamaguchi. Marina Bay view is the structural pitch — the counter faces north-west across the bay and catches the Sands light show at 8pm.

Reserve through the One Fullerton concierge or the restaurant's website six to eight weeks ahead for dinner. Lunch is a softer booking (two to three weeks). The 6pm dinner seating is the calmer service; the 8:30pm second seating gets the louder Marina-area crowd from the nearby cocktail bars.

"Kenjiro 'Hatch' Hashida's twelve-seat sushi counter on Mohamed Sultan, the city's most conversational omakase with full English service. Book it."

Kenjiro 'Hatch' Hashida opened the original Hashida Sushi at Mandarin Gallery in 2013 and relocated the restaurant to 77 Mohamed Sultan Road in 2019. Hashida is third-generation sushi — his grandfather opened the Hashida lineage in Shizuoka prefecture in 1949 — and trained under his father Tokio Hashida before moving to Singapore in 2009. The current Mohamed Sultan room runs a twelve-seat hinoki counter and a small ground-floor private room (eight seats) used for booked groups.

The omakase at S$380 (US$285) runs eighteen courses with the structural difference from the more austere counters in this list being its conversational format — Hashida works in fluent English and Japanese, explains each piece's provenance and technique, and runs a lower-volume rhythm that lets diners ask questions and have the meal play as much as a learning experience as a tasting. The kitchen's particular signatures are the kuruma ebi (cooked at-the-counter and served at body temperature), the akami-zuke (marinated in soy and mirin for forty minutes), and the tamago — a custard-textured omelette that takes thirty minutes per six portions and is the kitchen's signature course.

Reserve four to six weeks ahead via the restaurant's own site. The room is the right answer for a sushi-counter first-timer where the more traditional Sushi Kimura or Shoukouwa would feel too austere. Closed Sundays.

"Shigeru Koizumi's modern-kaiseki room on Mohamed Sultan, the city's most rigorous traditional Japanese tasting format. Worth the flight."

Shigeru Koizumi opened Esora at 15 Mohamed Sultan Road in 2018 after seven years at Nihonryori Ryugin in Tokyo under Seiji Yamamoto — the seven-year period when Ryugin held its third Michelin star. Esora earned its first Michelin star in the 2019 Singapore guide and has held it through every edition since. The room sits in a restored shophouse on a quiet stretch of Mohamed Sultan with a sixteen-seat L-shaped counter wrapping around the kitchen pass and a small private room (six seats) at the back.

The twelve-course tasting at S$298 (US$220) progresses through the classical kaiseki arc — sakizuke, suimono, mukozuke, otsukuri, yakimono, takiawase, gohan, kanmi — using a hybrid of Singapore-side seasonal product (Australia-imported wagyu, Sri Lankan crab, local saw-fish) alongside flown-in Japanese fish (kohada, sayori, tai, kinmedai). The kitchen's signatures are the hassun arrangement (a lacquered tray of seven small bites that changes weekly), the sumibiyaki of charcoal-grilled aburakogi mackerel, and the gohan course of rice cooked in a donabe at the counter. Sommelier Aaron Khoo runs a 280-bottle list weighted to Burgundy, Champagne, and Japanese sake with a serious Junmai Daiginjo programme.

Reserve four to six weeks ahead via the restaurant's website. The counter seats are bookable specifically; the kitchen-facing seats at the bend (seats six through nine) are the upgrade. Closed Sundays and Mondays.

"Modern French-Japanese kitchen at Mandarin Gallery, one Michelin star, the Singapore stop for diners who eat at Quintessence or L'Effervescence in Tokyo. Try it once."

Beni Singapore occupies the third floor of Mandarin Gallery on Orchard Road as a sister-restaurant to the Tokyo Ginza Beni original (which holds two Michelin stars), with chef Kenji Yamanaka running the Singapore kitchen since the room opened. The format is modern French-Japanese — a classical French technique base (sauce work, butter, reductions) plated against Japanese product (cold-water fish, wasabi, koji-fermented bases, hojicha) and presented in the kaiseki-progression structure. The restaurant earned its first Michelin star in the 2018 Singapore guide.

The seven-course tasting at S$298 (US$220) is the standard order and includes the kitchen's signatures: the tomato-and-shiso amuse, the hot foie gras chawanmushi with Hakata-jidori chicken broth, the line-caught sea bass with citrus beurre blanc, and the Mizukami-no-Sato wagyu sirloin with red wine sauce. The room seats forty-six across a long banquette and a small chef's counter; the lighting and the noise floor are calibrated for a conversational two-principal dinner. Sommelier Atsushi Imai runs a 350-bottle list with depth in Burgundy and Japanese natural wine.

Reserve four weeks ahead via the restaurant's website. The chef's counter is the upgrade for a single-principal dinner. Closed Sundays.

"Counter-style kappou in Tanjong Pagar, the city's most credible neighbourhood-Japanese for a serious solo dinner. Pencil it in."

Kappou Tamura runs a fourteen-seat counter and a single private room in Tanjong Pagar, with the chef working directly across the counter in the kappou format — a kaiseki-adjacent style where the chef cooks à la carte in front of the diner, building a progression that responds to what the diner orders rather than a fixed tasting menu. The room opens at 6pm with a single seating that runs to 11pm and accepts diners on a continuous rotation. The price point sits a tier below the omakase counters: a typical six-course order lands at S$250 per person, with a deeper order pushing to S$350.

The kitchen pulls from a mix of Japanese (kohada, ankimo, kinmedai, sayori from Toyosu) and local product (Singapore-side seasonal greens, Singapore-side hairy crab in season). The structural pitch is the format — a kappou room is the right answer for a solo diner or a two-principal dinner where the menu plays as a conversation between chef and counter, not a fixed printed sequence. The room is also a working solo-traveller pick: a Tanjong Pagar location with Japanese expat density, a sake list that runs serious enough to defend a single-bottle order, and a 6pm walk-in option when the omakase counters are fully booked.

Reserve two to three weeks ahead via phone only (the room does not run a website booking system). English service is functional rather than fluent.

"Goodwood Park Hotel's three-decade Japanese institution, the city's most reliable family-Japanese for a multi-generational dinner. Book it."

Tatsuya at the Goodwood Park Hotel has been open continuously since 1991 — among the oldest Japanese fine-dining rooms in Singapore — and runs a traditional dining-room format with a 38-seat main floor, a six-seat sushi counter, a twelve-seat teppanyaki room, and three private tatami rooms (capacities four to ten). The format gives a multi-generational party the working option of letting one diner sit at the sushi counter while another takes the teppanyaki and the elders take the tatami — a logistical flexibility no other Japanese room in the city offers under one roof.

The kitchen runs three parallel programmes. The sushi counter operates an omakase at S$280 (US$210) over twelve nigiri and four tsumami courses. The teppanyaki room cooks A5 wagyu (Miyazaki or Kagoshima rotation, S$240 per 200g portion) and Hokkaido scallops in front of the diner. The main dining room offers a kaiseki-format set lunch at S$120 and a six-course set dinner at S$220. The hotel context — black-car drop-off through the Goodwood Park porte-cochère, hotel concierge handling all bookings, the colonial-architecture room — makes it the working anniversary pick for an older Singaporean family that has been visiting Tatsuya for thirty years.

Reserve two weeks ahead via the Goodwood Park concierge. The tatami rooms book four weeks out for weekend group dinners. Open seven days; Sunday brunch buffet is the working family pick at S$148 per adult.