Kinki Restaurant + Bar

Most Marina Bay rooftops ask you to dress up. This one has graffiti on the walls and a geisha in charge.

Kinki is the rooftop for people who find Marina Bay a bit too polished: a loud, fun Japanese restobar in Customs House with the skyline across the water and graffiti on the walls. Go for after-work drinks that turn into dinner, or a birthday group that wants noise with its view. Don't go for hushed romance, and don't go on a Sunday, when it is closed.

It sits where the Raffles Place towers meet the water and has spent more than a decade being the least corporate thing in the building. Since its 2021 relaunch a geisha has been in charge: the old sumo wrestler logo went, the rooftop dragon gave way to a geisha in eye-popping red with half her face snarling through a kitsune mask, and black-and-white geishas swirl among flowers on the walls downstairs.

The look is half the point. Murals by the artist Sean Dunston cover the restaurant level, the rooftop carries graffiti by the local artist ANTZ (Anthony Chong), and even the lift is wrapped in kintsugi-inspired wallpaper. Then the doors open on the open-air rooftop on the third floor, and Marina Bay's skyline is right there. It is the only lift in Raffles Place we would describe as decorated.

The food is fusion Japanese, a hybrid of izakaya and fine dining, with sushi and sashimi alongside the twists and a few Western touches. At the 2021 relaunch the dishes that got people talking were an unagi claypot and a panko-and-mentaiko lamb rack; the menu has moved since, so check both are still on before you set your heart on either. The rooftop bar mixes Eastern and Western spirits, and the music gets louder as the week goes on.

Two offers do most of the work. On weekdays there is a Super Happy Hour on the rooftop after work, and on Saturdays and public holidays there is a bottomless brunch, with free-flowing salmon and bluefin tuna among the modern Japanese bites and a wagyu foie gras don on the spread. The brunch price, and the drinks add-on, are in the facts box; the happy-hour terms change, so check them on the day.

How to do it well: book through the restaurant's reservations page, especially for Saturday brunch, and leave the afternoon after it empty. For the rooftop, arrive as the bar opens and take a seat facing the bay before the office crowd finishes its emails. Raffles Place and Downtown MRT are both a short walk. Quiet romantics should pick another roof; everyone else, head straight up.

Good to know Kinki is at Customs House, 70 Collyer Quay (restaurant #02-02, rooftop bar on the floor above); Raffles Place and Downtown MRT are both a short walk. Restaurant open for lunch and dinner Mon–Sat, rooftop bar from late afternoon Mon–Sat; closed Sunday. Book through the restaurant's reservations page, especially for Saturday brunch.

Kinki Restaurant + Bar | Customs House, #02-02, 70 Collyer Quay, Singapore 049323 | Nearest MRT: Raffles Place, Downtown