A romantic date night doesn’t have to be all about exotic European cuisines. Singapore’s many Japanese establishments offer equal parts sublime food and heart-melting environs. These are some of our favorites.

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If your date is a city-slicking urbanite with refined tastes and a penchant for nightlife, this Keong Saik restaurant ticks all the boxes. First, there is the location—right in the heart of Saturday night action, with plenty of cocktail bars for a pre- or post-meal drink. Then there is the industrial-chic interiors of this refurbished shophouse—think wall-to-wall exposed brick, exposed pipes and a long bar along the open kitchen, where you can get close. The food doesn’t disappoint either, with Japanese-European fusion dishes like the Amberjack carpaccio with caviar, and the black cod meuniere with morel, daikon radish with jus de mer.

Fat Cow

For a carnivorous date, look no further than this Japanese “meat atelier”. If it’s your first date, grab a spot at the 16-seater U-shaped counter, where you can make conversations while watching the chefs in action. For a more intimate date, grab one of their utterly charming “private rooms”— pale wooden tables separated by screens and shoji doors. The star of the menu is the imported A5 and A5 wagyu—the young and handsome chef Adachi is partial to the Saga prefecture—but don’t miss delicate appetizers like the zucchini blossom tempura.

Forlino

Sweep your date off their feet with sweeping views of the city skyline. The wraparound windows at One Fullerton’s Italian restaurant Forlino affords panoramas of Marina Bay and the CBD, setting the perfect mood for a weeknight date. Japanese chef Yohhei Sasaki sprinkles his dishes with plenty of delicate Japanese touches. Try the linguini aglio olio, which here gets not only bottarga from Sardinia, but also generous pieces of Hokkaido sea urchin and a squeeze of yuzu.

Lewin Terrace

For old fashioned romance, with flowing dresses, linen suits and lots of greenery, Lewin Terrace is what you want. The fusion fine dining restaurant is set in a classic, glamorous white bungalow in Fort Canning, and some of the best tables are to be found outside on the spacious balcony, with views of the trees—perfect for a year-end date when the temperatures drop a bit. Order from Chef Matsumoto’s selection of classic, simple dishes, such as the Nippon Rossini, a timeless combination of beef, truffle and foie gras.

Plenty more where that came from. The Bite! Japan Facebook page is full of the latest Japanese restaurants and izakaya in Singapore, new promotions and bits of information to impressive your friends with. Follow us here.

Trattoria 33

If you like your date night right in the heart of the bustling action, head on over to Cuppage Terrace, where chef Nick Goh whips up Italian comfort food with little touches of Japanese thrills. Try the smoked salmon capellini, with house-made fresh pasta, salmon that has been smoked with sakura wood, all topped with nori seaweed and fresh and zesty ikura. Grab a quiet table inside, among the riotously colorful paintings, or get one on the patio and watch the world go by.

Wharf Oyster Bar & Grill

No all dates have to be over-the-top—sometimes all you want is to get together with your sweetheart after a long day at work, enjoy the river breeze and chow on some comfort food with a bottle of hoppy IPA. That’s where Wharf Oyster Bar & Grill comes in. The Robertson Quay restaurant is all about hearty fare like grilled meats, burgers and lamb racks. Grab a cozy booth table, and order a half dozen fresh oysters to kickstart the date.

Like what you see? For regular updates on Japanese food and drink in Singapore, follow Bite! Japan on Facebook.

December is here, which means ‘tis the season for wintertime menus. All the fancy restaurants are announcing new dishes, and this is especially true at the Japanese ones. Famous for its four seasons and high-quality produce, Japan takes seasonal fish, fruit and vegetable very seriously. Here is where you can experience the season’s bounty here in Singapore.

Buri

What is it: Also known as hamachi, yellowtail and Japanese amberjack, this Pacific Ocean fish grows especially fatty and tasty during the winter months—making it a fixture on many winter menus.

Where to get it: No doubt the city’s many sushi restaurants will be full of raw buri sushi and sashimi, but for something different, try the buri shabu shabu at Robertson Quay’s Dashi Master Marusaya, where it is lightly blanched in the restaurant’s umami-packed dashi stock, meticulously prepared with bonito flakes.

Tarabagani

Photo credit Flickr user Artizone
 

What is it: You’re probably seeing it on the Instagram feeds of your foodie friends. We are in prime tarabagani, or king crab, season, which runs from November to March. Caught in the notoriously frigid waters of northern Hokkaido, the Sea of Okhotsk and Alaska, king crab is especially famous for its long legs, which is where the bulk of meat comes from.

Get it at: Les Amis Group’s first foray into Japanese cuisine, Sushi Jin sources its seafood thrice weekly from Tsukiji market and is serving king crab grilled or in shabu shabu format this winter.

Plenty more where that came from. The Bite! Japan Facebook page is full of the latest Japanese restaurants and izakaya in Singapore, new promotions and bits of information to impressive your friends with. Follow us here.

Tara Shirako

What is it: Ok, we won’t mince words: shirako, literally meaning “white children”, refers the sperm sacs of a male fish. Tara is the name of the fish—meaning cod. If that sounds hard to swallow, know that it is a once-a-year, wintertime delicacy, mushy though it may be in texture, and is often even served raw.

Get it at: Sexy Tiong Bahru restaurant IKYU has not one but several dishes involving this seasonal specialty. You can have it charcoal grilled with soy sauce and chili powder; deep-fried with tempura sauce; steamED with sake, or sakamushi; or raw with spicy red radish and ponzu.

Yuzu

What is it: Every Japanese menu and lots of cocktails menus seem to be peppered with this little, grapefruit-like citrus fruit. Part of the citron family, it’s less about the juice with yuzu and more about the thick rind, which is extremely aromatic.

Where to get it: Kallang Riverside Park’s eternally beloved Kilo Kitchen serves a truffled tai yuzu roll, where the fruit lifts star ingredients like fresh crab meat, fresh snapper and tempura flakes.  

Kinmedai

What is it: Similar in taste to sea bream, this deep-water, white-flesh fish is also known as golden eye snapper. It’s famous for its slightly sweet flavor and is easy to find in Japan during the winter months—though it’s only recently become a thing in the West.

Where to get it: The achingly cool Bincho in Tiong Bahru is famous for its seasonal menus and omakase. They’ve just rolled out a bunch of winter dishes, including the kabura mushi, involving a flavor-packed clear broth with steamed turnip (kabura), pieces of kinmedai and gingko nut.

Like what you see? For regular updates on Japanese food and drink in Singapore, follow Bite! Japan on Facebook.