Traditional Japanese Restaurant in Singapore: Giant Prawns and Grilled Fish

Suju Restaurant 酢重正之 is a traditional Japanese restaurant in Singapore in Orchard Road. Our recent dinner may perhaps be considered an auspicious one. The fish dishes were simply grilled but delicious. Since today is the second day of Chinese New Year 2021, I wish all our readers 年年有余!

We had been to Suju Mandarin Gallery before. You can see more pictures of the restaurant in our earlier post. They also have a Suju Jewel Changi Airport branch.

Suju Singapore outlets are part of the Suju Masayuki restaurant group that originated in Karuizawa, Nagano prefecture of Japan. Traditional Japanese food and the basics of Japanese food culture such as miso and shoyu are the focus at this restaurant. The decor is one of a traditional Japanese restaurant – simple dark wood furniture and wood panelling.

Suju Menu

Here are pictures of some pages from the Suju menu. We previously tried the set lunch menu. This time we decided to try the a la carte authentic Japanese dishes.

Our dinner at a traditional Japanese restaurant in Singapore

For starters we picked two appetizers : nasu dengaku (deep-fried egg plant with “jukusei” miso paste, $11) and kuro goma tofu (black sesame tofu served with dashi and wasabi, $12). They were both delightful starters, the sort of dishes we seldom see in Singapore. They remind us of family-run small traditonal restaurants in Japan.

The rest of our authentic Japanese dinner in Singapore were all seafood items. The first was the highlight of our meal – Ooebi Tempura. It costs $25 for one giant prawn with some tempura vegetable pieces. Adding a second prawn, as we did, costs an extra $17.

This is our two-prawn tempura dish that cost a total of $42. Each prawn was longer than the dinner plate. They were meaty and delicately cooked. It is a pricey dish but one we will want to eat again.

The daily special was a charcoal grilled whole fish ($48). The fish was described to us in Japanese but I cannot remember the type of fish. It was a medium sized fish that does not look attractive at all. But beauty (or the lack thereof) is only skin deep. Underneath the skin was clean white meat of a fresh fish. A simple fish grilled with salt.

Our other fish dish was something more suitable for those who like fish but do not like to navigate the bones of a whole fish. The grilled black cod fillet marinated with miso ($42) is a classic Japanese fish dish at Suju. It also appears on their set lunch menus.

Gohan Set: Authentic Japanese Rice, Miso and Pickles

A meal at traditional Japanese restaurant in Singapore would not be complete without authentic Japanese rice, miso soup and pickles. At Suju, the Gohan set of this three items cost $9. But it is a satisfying way to finish the meal. The rice, cooked in copper pots, have a nice chewy texture. The miso soup was rich and the pickles – simple and crunchy.