Smaller-format restaurants that give chefs the flexibility to experiment outside their usual scope and have closer interactions with diners are shaking up the food scene in a big way.

There are just four seats at pizza omakase joint Small's by chef Bjorn Shen, 38; eight at high-end sushi bar Oshino by award-winning chef Koichiro Oshino, 50; and 12 at the as-yet-unnamed Japanese-French dining spot by restaurateur Tan Ken Loon, 44.