Pizza sushi, anyone? Here are 5 fun "omakase" experiences to try

Small’s

Credit: Smalls

1/5

Singaporean chef-owner of Middle Eastern-inspired restaurant Artichoke and Masterchef Singapore judge Bjorn Shen is known for his incredibly bold (and sometimes outrageous) creations on a plate. Small’s originally started as a 2m by 2m omakase pizza place in early February 2020. Dedicated to exceptional dough, the tiny joint was attached to Artichoke, and was really Bjorn’s R&D kitchen. There he would play host to four people at each time, a few days a week, dishing out fascinating mainstays born out of his wild imagination. Now, Small’s is located at King George’s Avenue, and its V2 menu kicks things up a notch.

It zooms in on – get this – bread sushi. The concept doesn’t veer too far off from the team’s dough-making know-how; after all, you can basically expect sushi to be served, except the raw, cooked, or cured seafood will not sit on rice, but on all sorts of bread that have a wide range of tastes and textures.

“Taking inspiration from Danish smørrebrød, Basque pintxos (a bread-based appetiser popular in Northern Spain), and Italian crostini, one can expect more than just fish on bread - condiments and other preparations join the party to give diners that riot of flavours they expect from a meal at Small’s,” explains Shen.

The tasting menu starts from $105++ and consists of three snacks, eight to 10 “bread-sushi”, one hotpot, and two sweets. Bjornshen.com/smalls.

The Humble Pit

Credit: The Humble Pit

2/5

Eugene Sito keeps things chilled and laid-back with his private home dining venture. Tucked away in a quaint part of Kovan, The Humble Pit is situated at the fourth-floor rooftop of Eugene’s family terrace house. It’s open and airy enough for his fiery ambitions, as the barbecue-themed experience features smoked and grilled highlights – think grilled cod with soy bone sauce, and smoked siu yuk (aka bacon cured pork belly smoked low and slow with lychee).

“I wanted to fully incorporate the fire element in every dish but with good balance across the menu,” says Sito. “Fire is involved in many ways: grilling over charcoal, indirect charcoal cooking, wood smoking, roasting beside charcoal fire… whichever style suits the dish I’m cooking the best.”

The waiting list for The Humble Pit is currently over a year, so it goes without saying that you should really be thinking well ahead if you want a spot at this one.

Dinner consists of six courses and starts from $110 per person. Instagram.com/thehumblepit.

Magic Square

Credit: Magic Square

3/5

What started out as a year-long pop-up concept is now a full-fledged restaurant like no other. Situated at Portsdown Road, Magic Square gives young Singaporean talents a real chance to show the world what they’ve got.

Think of the space as a stage for budding chefs: “Monthly, each chef takes a turn to present a nine-course menu that expresses a personal narrative based on their experiences and memories. In constant pursuit of innovation and progression, the menu will evolve over the course of the month, based on the availability of in-season ingredients, further experimentation, and customer feedback,” points out founder Tan Ken Loon, who also owns eateries Naked Finn and BurgerLabo.

With the only criteria being that Singaporean flavours have to feature in some shape or form, you won’t really know what to expect when you book a ticket for Magic Square, but past plates have included buah keluak (an Indonesian black nut dish typically made with meat) featuring Brussels sprouts, olive vegetables and aged aji (horse mackerel), as well as pork with fermented jackfruit, spiced butter, and Japanese turnip.

The dinner menu has nine courses and costs $98++ per person. Magicsquare.sg.

Restaurant Absurdities

Credit: Restaurant Absurdities

4/5

Mysterious jungles in a remote part of the world, right-smack in the middle of a scorching desert, the swanky cabin of an ultra-luxurious private jet – who knows where you’ll end up with Restaurant Absurdities?

Created by Stuart Wee and Emily Png, the couple behind ANDSOFORTH, Asia’s largest immersive dining company, and powered by Chef Jason Ang, one of ANDSOFORTH’s most frequent collaborators, Restaurant Absurdities puts its heart and soul into two things: theatre and food. As a diner, you’ll be beckoned to a secret location and visit six unique spaces as you feast your way through a multi-course meal. Each room is specifically designed to enhance different gastronomic elements, and costume-donning hosts play their part to perfection, making this a uniquely sensorial play of sorts.

“We want to hear diners exclaim in surprise and be awestruck by the dishes in each room. After all, absurd times call for absurd experiences," says Stuart.

Restaurant Absurdities serves up a six-course meal with two alcoholic drinks; prices start from $678 for groups of four, and $348 for groups of two. Absurdities.com.sg.

Section D

Credit: Section D

5/5

Omakase shouldn’t just be limited to food, don’t you think? That’s exactly the case with Section D — a private home bar experience in Sengkang that’s run by husband-and-wife duo Dannon Har and Jamie Chua. “The concept behind Section D is really to keep the experience authentic, using everyday household ingredients and tapping on what we have at home to create something memorable for our guests. We want to make them feel comfortable, and at home,” says Dannon.

The pair’s inaugural menu launched in July 2020 and was inspired by their life experiences. Today, the menu is switched up about twice a year. “Back then, we had a cocktail named The Proposal, which was the drink that Dannon made when he proposed to me,” Jamie shares. The Proposal is a delightful mix of bourbon, peat, fresh orange juice, tonic and brown sugar, and you can ask for it as an off-menu option, as long as Jamie and Dannon have the ingredients available at home.

Other cocktails they’ve served as part of the first menu include Papa's Garden, an ode to both their gardening-loving fathers. Dannon used a Thai rum with grassy notes and added slightly savoury notes to the concoction. If you want bar bites to accompany your drinks, choices like the truffle gyozas and cheese ramen will surely hit the spot.

A three-cocktail omakase experience starts from $80. Instagram.com/section_d_bar.