Opened back in 2022, Sushi Yujo is a Japanese omakase restaurant helmed by Singaporean chef Desmond Fong, who has 20 years of culinary experience and was previously the head chef at Sushi Jin, a restaurant part of the Les Amis Group.
Omakase Restaurant at Amara Hotel
The restaurant is located on the 2nd floor of Amara Hotel, boasting a 13-seat main counter with a sake display. They also have a private room that can hold up to 10, alongside a room with a private counter that seats 6 people.
What caught our eye was the kinetic flower display right behind the main counter, which made the entire experience even more unique.
The restaurant also goes out of its way to handwrite the menu with each patron’s name so that when you arrive, you have a personalized menu at your seat.
Sushi Yujo Menu
The lunch set menu at Sushi Yujo starts at $38, while the lunch omakase is priced either at $98 or $198. As for dinner, the menu comprises only four different omakase menus, priced at $198, $288, and $348.
We opted for the Yujo Menu, priced at $288, which had multiple elements such as sashimi, cooked food, and sushi.
The meal started with a series of appetizers, which featured items like monkfish liver and fresh tomatoes with sea salt. This was followed by the Carpaccio dish, which was a seabream carpaccio with sliced truffle, caviar, and spring onion. It had a burst of umami flavours which hyped us up for the rest of the meal.
Sashimi was next, and we were treated to slices of fatty tuna, striped jack, amberjack, medium-fat tuna, and uni wrapped with flounder. We loved the balance of white and red fish, and you can’t go wrong with fatty tuna – it simply melts in your mouth!
Proceeding on to the Chef’s Signature, we were presented with slices of abalone on top of a bed of abalone liver sauce. This was by far one of the most tender cuts of abalone we’ve had, and it paired amazingly with the umami-packed abalone liver sauce. There was even a small ball of rice which worked amazingly to pick up all the leftover sauce!
The Cooked Dish was next, and it featured a beautiful slice of Miyazaki Wagyu A5 beef served with a Japanese onsen egg and sukiyaki sauce. The beef was so tender, and we wouldn’t have minded an additional slice.
The Yujo Menu also featured 5 different sushi items, such as a Barracuda Aburi sushi and Spot Prawn topped with torched sea urchin sauce, which was creamy and sweet.
Before the 2 signature sushi items were served, we had a classic Uni sushi, which highlighted the freshness of the uni used here at Sushi Yujo.
The first signature sushi by Chef Desmond featured aburi-ed fatty tuna belly topped with negitoro and caviar. This was a beautiful blend of decadent ingredients and caused quite an explosion of flavours. It also came with a flashy performance, where the chef sprayed gold flakes onto the sushi!
The next signature dish blew us away with a creamy, delectable combination of scallops, torched foie gras, uni, caviar, and a gold leaf.
The meal ended with a Minced Tuna Hand Roll, Giant Clam Soup with seasonal vegetables, and a fruit platter featuring items like Japanese melon, umeshu jelly, and persimmon.
Tanjong Pagar Omakase
Sushi Yujo impressed us with its quality food, and we enjoyed the vibe at the restaurant. Service was also detailed, and the staff was attentive to our every need. However, if you’re a fan of having chefs interact with you during the meal, you might not find that here.
Sushi Yujo
165 Tanjong Pagar Road, Amara Hotel #02-26 Singapore 088539
Tues-Sun, 12pm-3pm, 6:30pm-10:30pm. Closed on Mondays.
*This was an independent review by MiddleClass.sg
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