Tentsuru

Not a single piece of nigiri all night, and nobody at the counter minds.

Tentsuru is the omakase to book for someone who has done all the sushi counters and wants to watch a chef work oil instead. It is a tempura counter on Level 2 of The St. Regis Singapore, every piece comes straight from the fryer to your plate, and the show is half the meal. Two things decide whether it is worth it: where you sit and which menu you pick. Ask for a middle seat and start with lunch.

Why it works

The point of tempura at a counter is that it reaches you seconds after it leaves the oil, and you eat it before it has a chance to settle. Master Chef Daiki Kawaguchi cooked in tempura restaurants in Japan, Bangkok and Singapore, with kaiseki in the mix, before landing here, in the hotel’s former LaBrezza space by the pool. Ingredients are air-flown from Toyosu.

Each piece comes with a little palette of condiments – plum, yuzu pepper, curry salt and Okinawan sea salt among them – and the chef will tell you which goes where. Do as you are told; this is not the place to freelance with the curry salt.

What to order

The menus climb from the Koto through the Tsuzumi and Uguisu to the Tsuru. The Koto lunch runs to six tempura, three seafood and three vegetable, with prawn heads fried crisp on the side, and is the sensible entry point. The luxury pieces are deep-fried sea urchin, and Miyazaki A5 wagyu tempura finished with black truffle and a house-made sauce. Hokkaido king crab joins the line-up in winter. There is Kura No Hana sake to drink, and every menu ends with a rice course of tendon or tencha.

Our pick is a middle menu at dinner if it is an occasion, and the Koto at lunch if it is curiosity. Either way, save room for the sea urchin if your menu has it; frying it is the kind of idea you only trust at a counter like this.

How to do it well

Book the counter and ask for a middle seat when you do. The middle has the best view of the frying; from the ends you see much less of the action, which at an omakase built around the fryer is most of what you are paying for. Tell the team about allergies in advance, since the menu is set.

It is open Tuesday to Sunday for lunch and dinner and closed on Mondays. The St. Regis is on Tanglin Road, a walk from Orchard Boulevard MRT. It is not halal-certified. Check current menu prices on booking.

Good to know Level 2, The St. Regis Singapore, 29 Tanglin Road, near Orchard Boulevard MRT. Open Tuesday to Sunday for lunch and dinner; hours are in the facts box. Not halal-certified. Book the counter, ask for a middle seat and tell the team about allergies in advance. Menu prices come from secondary coverage; check them when booking.

Tentsuru | Level 2, The St. Regis Singapore, 29 Tanglin Road, Singapore 247911 | Nearest MRT: Orchard Boulevard