Beloved Torio Japanese Restaurant offers one-for-one omakase at S$84 per diner, with uni & otoro
Japanese food enthusiasts, have you heard of Torio Japanese Restaurant?
Well, Torio is not one of the more renowned Japanese restaurants in Singapore, and hasn’t taken home any Michelin laurels, but that’s not what makes a good omakase establishment.
What Torio has is a very solid and experienced team, and a loyal customer base that it has built, since its opening in Tiong Bahru in 2021.
It’s an omakase-focused restaurant that was headed up by a group of veteran chefs, including chef Steve Quek, who has more than 20 years of experience and is also the creator of the legendary Shiok maki.
While the Tiong Bahru location had a pretty decent dinner crowd, the Torio team decided to move to Pacific Plaza in Orchard, sometime in 2025.
Now, the team has decided to offer something more affordable for its customers.
From 6pm to 7pm daily, Torio will be offering a mouth-watering one-for-one omakase deal — S$84 per diner — where guests can get the full experience, at half-price.
It’s sort of like a Happy Hour deal, but for omakase lovers!
Torio’s one-for-one omakase
It’s not the same struggle, as it was a decade ago, to find affordable omakase dinners around the S$80 mark in Singapore. But Torio’s omakase (U.P. S$168) is a 13-course affair that ropes in premium ingredients such as uni (sea urchin) and otoro (fatty tuna) — all prepared with precision by sushi masters with years of experience.
The omakase starts off strong and luxurious with two seasonal appetisers, which include a seasonal vegetable and plump Miyagi oyster.
The oyster is creamy, slurpable, and drowned in a piquant ponzu sauce — such a luxurious welcome.
However, that’s just the start, as Torio dials the opulence up to 11 with three sashimi courses to follow.
The uni, hotate, and ikura, in particular, was a spectacular flavour bomb, combining uni, hotate (scallop), and ikura (salmon roe).
Creamy uni, luscious scallop chunks, and pops of shoyu-marinated ikura? What a way to set the pace for the rest of the omakase!
The other sashimi course that would light everyone’s eyes up is the otoro, white fish, and ika.
During our visit, the white fish was tai (sea bream), while the ika (squid) is not the usual white, crunchy ika sashimi you normally get at Japanese restaurants.
Instead, Torio serves komochi ika, which is basically squid stuffed with squid eggs. This was magnificently rich, both in flavour and texture!
Interestingly enough, the otoro used in this sashimi platter is also a cut that’s not as fatty as in most omakase spots. It’s more of a robust, meaty bite, than melt-in-the-mouth experience.
Besides the raw seafood, Torio also interjects the omakase with a hot seafood dish: A choice of kani miso or ebi tempura.
Both great crustacean dishes, but done very differently. The former is silky shredded crab flesh, mounded atop a potently umami crab miso base.
Meanwhile, the latter is more akin to your standard prawn tempura dish, but with tenshin no ebi (angel prawns), which boast the softest flesh and a magnificent mix of light brine and sweetness.
The big finish
After all that jazz, Torio winds down its omakase with a simple five-piece sushi ensemble, comprising two white fish, otoro, uni, and anago (saltwater eel).
The two white fish presented to us were shima aji (striped jack) and engawa (torched flounder fin), with the engawa being a highlight with its smoky fragrance and light, gelatinous texture.
Both the anago and toro were fresh and good quality — quite a bit better than what you’ll expect for around S$80 per diner.
At the end, though, it all comes down to Torio’s uni gunkan — crispy seaweed wrapped around rice, adorned with a glistening crown of bafun uni.
The velvety bafun uni spreads around your palate and floods it with a deluge of umami, leaving behind a pleasant lingering brininess.
Such an indulgent treat. As good as it gets without going for premium omakase dinners that burn a hole in your wallet, really.
Once you’re done with the sushi, the epilogue is kickstarted with a bowl of hot soup, before you’re served dessert.
Torio’s omakase has a pretty unique ending to it, since the dessert is courtesy of homegrown artisan brand, Denzy Gelato.
In fact, we hear that the two brands have a collaboration in the pipeline, which will see the local gelato brand making an exclusive soy milk kinako flavour to be served at Torio!
Since the collab flavour is slated for official release on May 7, we were served Hokkaido milk and chrysanthemum flavours — we especially loved the latter’s elegant floral aroma.
If you are a Japanese food lover working in the CBD, and have time to pop out for dinner from 6pm to 7pm, need we say more?
Make your way to Torio for the one-for-one omakase deal — stat — and make a reservation so you get your seats!
This was a hosted tasting.
For more ideas on what to eat, read our stories on where West-End-performing Singaporean Nathania Ong goes to eat, and Fico’s new pop-up where everything is under S$20!
Tue 11.30am - 2.30pm, 6pm - 10pm
Wed 11.30am - 2.30pm, 6pm - 10pm
Thu 11.30am - 2.30pm, 6pm - 10pm
Fri 11.30am - 2.30pm, 6pm - 10pm
Sat 11.30am - 2.30pm, 6pm - 10pm
Sun 11.30am - 2.30pm, 6pm - 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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