Sushidan Raffles City rolls out $98++ hidden omakase

Sushidan, a Japanese restaurant in Raffles City that made its name with $1.99++ sushi and $19.90++ sets, now faces the uphill battle of convincing patrons to fork out $98++ for its omakase experience. 

Here is the pitch, roughly: For that price, you dine not out front with the masses, but in a hidden room at the back of the restaurant that seats just six. Behind the counter is Yusuke Kawana, a Tokyo-trained sushi master with more than 28 years of experience. How is that for exclusive? 

The sushi, too, is of a markedly higher quality here, comparable with far pricier options on the market. The $98++ lunch menu gets you 15 courses that include appetisers, sashimi, sushi, a hot dish, handroll and dessert. 

My meal comes with the likes of white squid and donchicchi horse mackerel, draped over rice that aptly toes the line between sweet, salty and tart. The longer the meal stretches, the more lavish it gets, culminating in a handroll topped with negitoro and a thick slab of otoro so extravagant it makes me blush. 

There are two other menus priced at $138++ and $238++, which differentiate themselves with “premium seasonal ingredients and elevated culinary artistry”.

Affordable luxury, quiet opulence. Whichever newfangled buzzword you pick, this is old-fashioned good value, especially when you consider Kawana’s pedigree. He has worked in some of Japan’s and Singapore’s ritziest sushi restaurants, where omakase experiences regularly exceed $300 a person.

So while this is not quite $1.99++ sushi, at least it hovers below the three-digit range.

Where: B1-44C Raffles City Shopping Centre, 252 North Bridge Road
MRT: City Hall 
Open: 11am to 10pm daily 
Tel: 8385-2768
Info: @sushidan.sg on Instagram