Singapore 2015 - Shinji by Kanesaka

If you search for the best sushi restaurant in Singapore you will probably end up in Shinji by Kanesaka. The original flagship outlet in Tokyo - Sushi Kanesaka, has been awarded 2 Michelin stars. There are now 2 Shinjis in Singapore, one at Raffles Hotel and the other at St Regis. Both are supposed to be identical in terms of quality. We were at the St Regis branch. 

The sushi chefs are all from Japan and trained in the craft for years. The head chef for Shinji at St Regis is Kikuchi Shunsuke who hails from the Tohoku region. Just watching them expertly slice the fish and prepare the sushi is a visual delight in itself.

Lunch started with an amuse-bouche of cubed tuna with salmon roe. 

This is not your standard sushi experience, so the sushi is served one by one in succession - in the order of the tastes which the chefs want the diner to experience. The fish are all extremely fresh and as close to what you will get in Japan, barring buying them straight from Tsukiji Market yourself.

Dining at Shinji is not cheap. The set lunch courses with 12 pieces of sushi is SGD125, and with 15 pieces is SGD180. Dinner goes up to SGD450 for the Omakase. Whether it is worth it depends on how much of a sushi aficionado you are. Though it was good - it was definitely not mind-blowingly good. In fact, a much more reasonably priced sushi meal I had at Tsukiji Market was way more memorable.