Something sexy and bronzed has arrived at the lobby of Marina Bay Sands hotel — Wakuda, a new Japanese restaurant which officially opened yesterday (Apr 17).

It’s a partnership between chef Tetsuya Wakuda of two-Michelin-starred Japanese fine diner Waku Ghin and 50 Eggs Hospitality Group’s John Kunkel, who owns Yardbird Southern Table & Bar. Both restaurants are also located at MBS at its shopping mall. A second Wakuda is set to open later this year in Las Vegas at The Venetian Resort.

The concept

Wakuda takes over defunct celeb chef restaurant Adrift by David Myers. Like Waku Ghin, the concept here is also Japanese, though chef Tetsuya describes the food here as "approachable yet entirely unique", with a focus on "natural ingredients".

The dining room view

The cavernous space boasts a bar, an omakase room and a main dining room with artwork by Tokyo street artist Jun Inoue, and a ceiling-to-floor window offering a dramatic view of a lone Japanese maple tree, which deepens in colour as day turns to night.

The main dining room

The omakase room

Other than the typical counter seating, the restaurant’s wood-clad omakase room also has banquette seats obscured by metal privacy screens.

The bar

The chic bar serves “Japanese-style handcrafted cocktails” (from $23 a glass) concocted by 50 Eggs Hospitality Group’s beverage team, with tipples such as the Roku gin-based Stone, Water, Plants and the strawberry sake Lady from Shizuoka. There are also over 100 sake labels here, with some that were exclusively brewed for chef Tetsuya, like the Masuizami junmai daiginjo (highest grade of sake) from Toyama.

The menu

The restaurant - which is already fully booked for a month - offers a la carte options as well as private omakase meals (dinner-only for now). Prices start from $18 for appetisers and $38 for small plates.

Japanese-born Australian chef Tetsuya came up with a “diverse menu of Wakuda-style appetisers, sashimi, sushi, tempura, as well as high-quality small plates of grilled items, rice bowls and cold soba” featuring ingredients like AA grade Hokkaido uni, A5 wagyu beef, Kagoshima black pork and Tasmanian ocean trout. The wasabi used for dishes like sushi and sashimi is sourced from chef Tetsuya’s native hometown of Shizuoka.

Helming the kitchen are chef Tetsuya’s protégés and Waku Ghin alum, executive chef Sufian Zain and chef de cuisine Suzuki Masaya.

Yuba

Dishes include the ethereally silky yuba (fresh beancurd skin) served here is flown in from Kyoto, served with Hokkaido uni in a cocktail glass.

Cold Soba

There's also chilled soba with botan shrimp, topped with shaved truffles and caviar.

Organic Chicken

In a nod to Yardbird, there’s also fried organic chicken on the menu.

The Stone

For dessert, we get a ‘pebble’ filled with hazelnut mousse and chocolate.

Wakuda, Marina Bay Sands Hotel Lobby Tower 2, 10 Bayfront Ave, S018956. Open Tues-Sun, 4pm-11pm (bar), 5pm-11pm (dining room). Reservations strongly encouraged. www.marinabaysands.com/restaurants/wakuda-singapore

Photos: Wakuda Singapore/ Yip Jieying