Tucked away in a quiet artery of the central business district, CHŌ OMAKASE is a respite from the buzz and bustle outside. It is a 30-seater restaurant with earthy tones and clean, minimal lines that evokes its Japanese inspiration, and sets the stage for a casual and relaxed dining experience.

Named after its Chef, YK Chong, Chef Chong is a home-grown talent who returned to Singapore after six years of heading Bushido, a 1500-capacity multi-award winning Japanese restaurant in Bahrain. With a firm foundation immersed in traditional Japanese cooking, he developed and infused his own unique style through years of experience, which saw him serving world leaders, celebrities and other high-profile VIP guests.

Chef Chong uses only finer quality ingredients such as A4 grade marbled Hidawagyu, freshly flown-in variety of fishes, oysters and unagi from Japan, Australian lamb, and more. The Chef’s signature is prevalent in all elements of the dining experience, for instance, in the house-made sauces and umeshu.

Chef Chong crafted the omakase experience, and he said every season has its own unique flavour. Indeed, we tried some of these distinctive and unique seasonal flavours at our recent tasting. Frist, we had the handmade silken egg tofu with century egg topping. This was a cold dish served really whetted my appetite. The sashimi puts me in a state of utter contentment. The octopus leg, yellow tail, sea bream, scallop and otoro were excellent.

The classic chawanmushi or Japanese-style steamed egg custard made with dashi and bonito stock was very smooth and velvety. For my main course, I could not resist the grilled pork ribs marinated in garlic sauce, it was grilled to a glistering skin and amazingly tender meat. It was so good that I finished it quickly. Marinated with citrus sauce and sake, the grilled sanma fish is sitting atop a huge chunky piece of foie gras. In my opinion, it adds too much oiliness to the already rich fish.

It’s all kind of quiet as Chef Chongs gets to work on the sushi, with a resounding clap to get rid of the excess moisture as he shapes every piece of sushi with care. Before we know it, he presents us our sushi in sequence – flounder, yellow tail, salmon with sea kelp, scallop with tobiko, grilled beef on uni.

We ended the night with a smooth and soft rice pudding served with matcha ice cream.

Prices are not crazy and the meals are satisfying. Set lunch starts at $18.80++ per person; omakase courses begin from an accessible $50++ per person to $120++ per person. Guests are encouraged to be open with the Chef about how they feel, their likes and dislikes, and in true omakase fashion, sit back and be surprised and delighted by the specially tailored, tantalising dishes in the company of great colleagues and friends.

Chō Omakase

Address: 14 Lorong Telok, Singapore 049027
Tel: +65 6532 2098
Opening hours: (Mondays to Saturdays) Lunch 12pm –3pm; Dinner 6pm –10pm
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/choomakase/

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