Les Amis Group’s new Jiin Omakase serves up quirky modern luxury with Japanese lobster hotpot & more
For many Singaporeans, the peak of luxury dining is the Japanese omakase format.
A special occasion is best marked with a session of pampering at an intimate wooden-decked restaurant, with pieces of nigiri moulded a la minute by a chef who is undoubtedly dressed in all white.
That said, the higher the price range, the more prim and proper it can be. Sometimes you want the best quality, but without the formality.
If that’s what you want for your next celebration, the new Jiin Omakase at Shaw Centre will check most of the boxes.
It is a new concept by the Les Amis Group, the prolific restaurant group behind a whole host of luxury dining concepts, including its eponymous flagship, a French restaurant with three Michelin stars, and the recent Sukiyakijin.
The decor is elegant, with all the gorgeous wooden trimmings you‘d expect from an omakase joint, but with a very adorable personable touch.
The middle of the sushi counter is populated with a whole army of kawaii (cute) mini cat figurines, which the chefs personally collected and set up for display.
The choice of music is also quite different here, as you can hear lively Japanese pop music throughout your meal.
Most importantly, the chefs are super friendly, and will chat and joke with you — and good hospitality always makes a meal more memorable.
Modern Japanese luxuries
There are a few options to choose from, menu-wise, with the cheapest being S$138 and S$188, but are available only at lunch.
Jiin Omakase’s S$288 and S$388 omakase menus are available for both lunch and dinner, and start with theatrics, as the chef presents you a bucket of ingredients, covered with a thin sheet of paper.
The lights are turned off and the paper is set on fire, as the pyrotechnics slowly expose the contents.
Our eight-course S$288 omakase started off strong with a gorgeously presented waragirini (swimming crab) appetiser.
Silky strands of shredded crab, chunks of umami crab roe, and a piquant tosazu jelly (a mix of dashi, vinegar, mirin, among other ingredients).
Refreshing start to the meal, before Jiin Omakase serves up its sashimi course (five kinds of seasonal fish).
The sashimi includes akami (lean tuna), ootoro (fatty tuna), kinmedai (golden eye snapper), tai (sea bream), and shima aji (striped jack).
This is more than your usual sashimi platter: Jiin Omakase supplements it with three-year-aged shoyu and spicy onion ponzu sauce for a more premium spin.
Still, the most dazzling showcase of premium sashimi is probably the third course, Jiin Omakase’s enchantingly unique monaka dish, which is also served amidst an adorable cat-themed tableau of little figurines.
The most common style of monaka is in its wagashi form (Japanese confectionery), which is basically red bean filling sandwiched between two thin, circular wafer biscuits.
It is also not uncommon for upscale omakase joints to use the wafers to sandwich ingredients such as negitoro (minced tuna) — but Jiin Omakase riffs on it by loading up five different ingredients onto a singular, rectangular wafer.
The wafer is first filled with a base of creamy ankimo (monkfish liver), before being adorned with caviar, botan ebi (peony shrimp), uni, and hotaru ika (firefly squid).
Guests are instructed to start from the caviar, and end with the hotaru ika.
This dish is a sensationally indulgent treat, starting with a burst of umami from the caviar and ankimo, before the prawns and uni inundate your palate with briney sweetness, with the bouncy and juicy squid as the perfect ending.
After the meal’s laser-focus on seafood as a starter, Jiin Omakase then decides to switch up the tempo with a meaty grilled course with A5 wagyu wrapped around gobo (burdock).
With grilled A5 Kagoshima wagyu slices as the star of this, there was naturally a ton of juiciness and beefy flavours.
The diverse textures of the crunchy gobo and thick, sticky mashed potatoes at the base also means this is a dish with some interesting textural contrast.
The next dish that came along was also quite unexpected: It was a mini hotpot with ise ebi (spiny lobster).
Well, not exactly a hotpot. It features a luxurious lobster broth base, which is topped with ise ebi and sakura ebi, and also has rice hiding at the bottom — so more like lobster pao fan (poached rice).
Honestly, the lobster broth was so addictive, with its exuberant mix of sweetness and umami, which compelled us to slurp it all up.
At the side, Jiin Omakase also did a marvelous job with the lobster, which boasts the most sublimely luscious and bouncy bite.
After a palate cleanser of seasonal vegetables, we moved into the ultimate savoury dish, a mini don of kurigani (helmet crab) and sushi rice.
How Jiin Omakase does this mini don is by setting up a foundation of vinegared sushi rice in a crab shell, then piling on it with a mound of marinated crab.
Simple, satisfying, and a good way to add in carbs to make sure you are filled up.
Like everything else served in the omakase, Jiin Omakase makes sure the star ingredient has space to shine.
And that is why Jiin Omakase is a spot that you should consider for your next special night out. The ingredients are top-notch and everything is skillfully prepared, but there is that tasteful touch of modern flair that makes it stand out from the other omakase in Singapore!
This was a hosted tasting.
For more ideas on what to eat, read our stories on the new bakery opened by popular Chu and Co, and where to order the best rice dumplings for your family.
Tue 12pm - 3pm, 6.30pm - 10pm
Wed 12pm - 3pm, 6.30pm - 10pm
Thu 12pm - 3pm, 6.30pm - 10pm
Fri 12pm - 3pm, 6.30pm - 10pm
Sat 12pm - 3pm, 6.30pm - 10pm
Sun 12pm - 3pm, 6.30pm - 10pm
- Orchard
Evan started off writing about food on Instagram, before joining outlets such as Buro and Confirm Good to pursue his passion. His best work usually comes after his first whisky shot in the morning.
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