Japanese in Singapore — Saba, Sushi & Donburi by MRT

Singapore has one of the densest Japanese restaurant scenes outside Japan. The reason is partly history (Japanese expats have lived here since the 1970s) and partly geography (fish from Tsukiji flies in daily). A weekday lunch can mean a S$15 saba shioyaki set; the same evening, a S$300 omakase counter is two MRT stops away. Here's a guide to the spectrum.

Stop 1 · Saba shioyaki — the salt-grilled mackerel set

A salt-grilled saba mackerel fillet served on a plate, crispy skin facing up — Photo (illustrative — saba shioyaki, shot in Boston, USA): Daderot / Wikimedia Commons · CC0

If you love saba, Singapore is generous. Saba shioyaki (salt-grilled mackerel) is a staple set lunch — a halved mackerel fillet with crispy skin, served with rice, miso soup, pickles and salad for around S$12–18. The fish is fatty, salty and crackles when you cut it.

Reliable spots: Tampopo (across Liang Court / Tanjong Pagar area), Senjyu (Tanjong Pagar), Sushi-Tei (mall chain), and dozens of casual Japanese restaurants in the malls along Orchard Road. Conveyor-belt joints like Genki Sushi often have saba as a hot side too.

Tanjong Pagar MRT · EW15 — the heart of Singapore's Japanese strip on Tanjong Pagar Road and Tras Street.
Somerset MRT · NS23 — Tampopo and other Japanese restaurants around 313@Somerset and the Orchard malls.

Stop 2 · Sushi & sashimi — from belt to omakase

An assorted sashimi platter at the Standing Sushi Bar on Queen Street, Singapore — Photo: Smuconlaw / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

Singapore's sushi scene runs the full spectrum:

Conveyor-belt sushi: Genki Sushi, Maki-san, Sushiro. Cheap, fast, family-friendly. Around S$2–6 per plate.
Sit-down chains: Sushi Tei, Itacho Sushi. Bigger menus, broader sashimi platters. S$30–50 a head.
Independent and counter sushi: Standing Sushi Bar (multiple branches), Tomi Sushi, Sushi Mieko. The Standing Sushi Bar's Queen Street original is a Singapore institution — cheap nigiri, standing tables, after-work crowd.
Omakase counter: anywhere from Sushi Ichi to Hashida. Reservations weeks ahead, S$200–500 per head.

Bras Basah MRT · CC2 — Standing Sushi Bar on Queen Street.
Tanjong Pagar MRT · EW15 — the omakase strip.
Orchard MRT · NS22 / TE14 — mall-chain sushi at Wisma, Ion, Paragon.

Stop 3 · Donburi — rice bowl economics

A bowl of oyakodon — simmered chicken and softly cooked egg over steamed rice — Photo (illustrative — oyakodon, shot in Japan): Ocdp / Wikimedia Commons · CC0

Donburi — rice bowls topped with something glorious — are the best lunch deal in the Japanese repertoire. The classics:

Oyakodon: chicken and softly-set egg over rice. The "parent-and-child" bowl.
Gyudon: thinly-sliced beef in sweet soy. Yoshinoya and Sukiya are the budget chains.
Kaisendon / chirashidon: assorted raw seafood over sushi rice. Standing Sushi Bar and the omakase counters do this beautifully.
Unadon: grilled eel. Look at Man Man (Keong Saik) — queue an hour for the most famous unagi bowl in Singapore.
Tendon: tempura over rice. Tendon Kohaku at Tanjong Pagar.

Outram Park MRT · EW16 / NE3 / TE17 — Keong Saik food strip, Man Man unagi.
Tanjong Pagar MRT · EW15 — the wider Japanese restaurant cluster.

Stop 4 · Omakase & izakaya in Singapore

Interior of Sushi Masa by Ki-setsu, an omakase sushi restaurant in Singapore — Photo: Bobby.Creations / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 4.0

Omakase (chef's choice) at the counter is Singapore's high-end Japanese specialty. Most omakase restaurants cluster around Tanjong Pagar, Tras Street, Cuppage Plaza (the slightly grungy upstairs at the Centrepoint end of Orchard), and Robertson Quay.

Casual izakaya (Japanese pub) on the same routes:

Cuppage Plaza for old-school izakaya at varying quality — the second and third floors are where Japanese expats actually drink.
Robertson Quay for riverside izakaya with terraces.
Tanjong Pagar Tras Link / Tras Street for the post-work sake bars.

Tanjong Pagar MRT · EW15 — the omakase belt.
Fort Canning MRT · DT20 — Robertson Quay riverside.
Somerset MRT · NS23 — Cuppage Plaza upstairs.

GoBus SG tip: sushi counters and omakase often have set start times (the chef serves everyone at once). Pin Tanjong Pagar MRT and the trip planner will tell you when to leave home so you don't arrive five minutes after the first course.

Lunch sets — the value play

The best Japanese deal in Singapore is the weekday set lunch. Almost every sit-down restaurant has a S$15–25 lunch menu that's half the dinner price for the same chef and the same fish. Look at:

Tampopo set lunch with saba shioyaki, tonkatsu, gyudon.
Sushi-Tei bento with sashimi, tempura, miso soup.
Standing Sushi Bar nigiri lunch combo — cheap, fast, central.

A Japanese day by MRT

12:30pm — saba shioyaki set lunch at Tampopo (Somerset MRT).
3:00pm — coffee at a kissaten-style café in Tanjong Pagar.
6:30pm — sashimi and a beer at Standing Sushi Bar (Bras Basah MRT).
9:00pm — nightcap at a Cuppage Plaza izakaya or a Tanjong Pagar sake bar.

Why GoBus SG helps here

Japanese restaurants close earlier than you'd expect — many shut their kitchens at 9:30pm and lock the doors at 10pm. With live arrivals you can time the bus or MRT to land at 6:25pm for a 6:30 reservation instead of waiting outside in the rain.

Open these stops in GoBus SG

Search any MRT or stop above for live arrivals across bus, MRT and LRT — with home-screen widgets and multi-modal trip planning.

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