Hamamoto

One Michelin star, 12 seats and a curved counter designed to get strangers talking.

Book Hamamoto when you want starred sushi without the ceremony: one Michelin star in the 2026 guide, 12 seats at a curved counter carved to get guests talking to each other, and a meal paced for a long catch-up rather than a reverent hush. The compromise is access and time. There is one seating at lunch and one at dinner, Tuesday to Saturday, so book well ahead and set aside two to three hours.

The chef is Kazuhiro Hamamoto, Kyoto-born, with more than 20 years in Kyoto, Tokyo and Singapore and long-standing suppliers in Tokyo and Fukuoka. He was head chef at Ki-sho on Scotts Road before opening on Tras Street under his own name in 2021. Sourcing is his obsession, and it runs through the whole meal.

The counter is part of the pitch. It is brushed hinoki, and the restaurant says it is the only curved sushi counter in Singapore. The restaurant works with Japanese craftspeople, including lacquer artist Kenji Hishida; the sake glasses are Edo kiriko cut glass by Haku, and dishes arrive on lacquer-and-porcelain pieces. The house sake, Hamamoto 7, is a Junmai Daiginjo made with Tatenokawa Brewery in Yamagata, and it is the one to order (a chef's own-label sake at his own counter is not a hard sell).

The nigiri is the point. Watch for nodoguro, the rosy seabass Japanese chefs prize for its fat, and chutoro; before the sushi come courses such as uni and smoked tuna. One detail rewards attention: the rice is dressed with either red vinegar or rice vinegar, chosen to suit the fish it carries, so it is worth asking which is which as the pieces arrive. The menu leans into kaiseki too. One spring menu had firefly squid marinated in sake lees and Hokkaido hairy crab poached in a dashi kept simmering since opening day, and ended on the signature chestnut ice cream with dark rum.

How to do it well: Tras Street is a few minutes' walk from Tanjong Pagar MRT. The menus run from lunch through the Hamamoto Classic dinner to the Hamamoto Experience; the facts box has the price range, and lunch is the cheapest way in. Book the counter well ahead, come hungry and leave the rest of the afternoon or evening free. It suits a long catch-up as much as a special occasion, and anyone who has sat through a silent omakase wondering whether talking was allowed.

Good to know Book well ahead; there is one seating at lunch and one at dinner, Tuesday to Saturday per the restaurant's site. Tras Street is a few minutes' walk from Tanjong Pagar MRT.

Hamamoto | 58 Tras Street, Singapore 078997 | Nearest MRT: Tanjong Pagar