Chef Behind Michelin-Starred Sushi Kimura’s $450 Dinner Opens Restaurant With $180 Sushi-Only Omakase
Newly opened sushi-ya Shin Yasuke at the Loft @ Nathan condominium complex, River Valley, offers a tantalising proposition. An omakase meal consisting only of 15 pieces of sushi (none of the usual frills like sashimi or fried dishes) for $180 per head. Not exactly ‘affordable’ by average standards – but pretty value-for-money, considering that the restaurant is run by the folks behind one-Michelin-starred restaurant Sushi Kimura in Palais Renaissance. At the latter, a dinner – personally prepared by its eponymous chef Tomoo Kimura (pictured above) and his team – costs $450 for 12 courses of both cooked and raw fish dishes, which includes several pieces of sushi (the high price tag is common among most sushi fine-diners in Singapore, where omakase meals have gotten increasingly expensive since the pandemic began).
But back to its more casual sibling eatery Shin Yasuke. Here, you get some of the same seafood, shari (vinegared rice), soy sauce and wasabi that’s used at the genial chef-owner’s flagship sushi bar in Palais Renaissance. No wonder reservations for the new 12-seat eatery – which is only open for dinner – have been constantly snapped up since its official opening in late April (we only managed to snag a seat a couple of weeks from now).
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Manned by Sushi Kimura alumni
Tomoo, who also co-owns beef eatery The Gyu Bar, won’t be the one dishing out your nigiri sushi here, of course. Instead, you’ll be left in the hands of a local team, fronted by head chef Alan Oh (above), who made sushi at Sushi Kimura for two years. He’s assisted by sushi chef Ng Ren Jie, who also has two years of work experience at Sushi Kimura.
The restaurant’s rep tells us that traditional edomae sushi is served at Shin Yasuke. It’s a style of sushi invented in Tokyo during the Edo period, which typically involved treating the fish with methods such as ageing/curing as a form of preservation since fridges weren’t available back then. Some sushi chefs still use this artisanal method today — not to preserve their seafood, but to draw out the best flavours from it.
The look
Compared to the luxe-zen, hinoki wood-driven vibe of Sushi Kimura, Tomoo’s River Valley space is more modest.
A dozen seats before a laminated bar counter fills up most of the compact grey-accented dining room.
Same shari as Michelin-starred flagship
Shin Yasuke and Sushi Kimura both use special A-grade tsuya-hime organic rice (known for its glossy whiteness and sweet flavour) from a family farm in Yamagata prefecture. The grains are then flavoured with aged organic vinegar from a small-production brewery in Kyoto.
The same freshly-grated wasabi from Nishijima-Nouen farm in Shizuoka prefecture and Aritaya shoyu from Gunma prefecture are used at both restaurants too.
Same seafood used at Sushi Kimura too
Likewise, expect mostly the same fresh seafood used at Sushi Kimura too (depending on seasonality), brought over by air-freight four times a week on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from Tomoo’s home prefecture of Kanagawa (situated south of Tokyo).
Naturally, Sushi Kimura’s higher price tag stems from a focus on more “premium and rare seafood”, along with its full omakase menu with cooked dishes too, shares the restaurant’s rep. Plus there’s also chef Kimura’s experience that you're paying for, of course.
No distractions, just sushi
There’s only one menu at Shin Yasuke – the aforementioned 15-piece sushi omakase ($180) at either the 6pm or 8.15pm seating. Exactly what kind of fish will be served on your vinegared rice varies depending on what’s flown in. Examples include bafun uni, hotate (scallop) and otoro (fatty tuna). A bowl of seasonal soup is also served after all that sushi to end your meal, as is dessert when available. Reservations open 30 days in advance here.
The details
Shin Yasuke is at #01-03, Loft @ Nathan, 428 River Valley Rd, S248327. Tel: 8869-7589. Open Tues – Sun 6pm – 10.15pm. More info via Instagram.
Photos: Shin Yasuke, @gluttonytraveller/Instagram, @cklimited/Instagram
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