Along with Man Man Unagi (now known as Unagi Tei Japanese Restaurant), Uya was one of the first few unagi speciality restaurants in Singapore offering quality live freshwater eels. The fish is served Kansai-style — first dipped in sauce, then grilled for a gently crunchy mouthfeel. The more common Kanto method of cooking unagi involves par-grilling it, before it's steamed, basted and grilled again for a moister finish. Uya opened its flagship outlet at Wheelock Place in 2018 and launched a second restaurant at Novena in Oasia Hotel in April 2023. Prices here are similar to the Orchard branch’s and there’s currently a promotion till end May where customers enjoy 10 percent off the bill by showing this post. Here’s what else to expect.

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The look

The new space is smaller, with 64 seats vs Wheelock’s 90 seats,and has a similarly chic, modern vibe with blonde wooden furniture and shades of grey. There’s also a small window into the kitchen where you can see the chefs (headed by Japanese chef Shirahama Hiroki who has worked at Uya in Wheelock since 2020) grilling eels over binchotan charcoal.

Outlet-exclusive dishes at Novena

Expect four outlet-exclusive dishes here: Smoky Unagi Ham ($16), Yahata Maki, unagi rolled with crunchy burdock ($9 per stick) Grilled Unagi Head ($6 per stick) and Grilled Unagi Fin ($6 per stick). Much like the Wheelock outlet, the live eels are flown in directly from fisheries in Taiwan or China weekly (no longer also from Japan like when it first opened), then slaughtered on-site at the restaurant.

The unagi ham is essentially a rolled unagi fillet lightly seasoned with salt. It’s grilled over sakura wood chips, giving it a smoky ham-like flavour and comes with cream cheese that you smear on the ham for a touch of richness.

Hitsumabushi, from $35 for medium 

The signature, and in our opinion, best dish at Uya is the hitsumabushi. Of course, it’s also offered at the Novena branch. This Nagoya style of eating unagi features chopped grilled eel in a wooden tub of rice served with various condiments such as spring onions, wasabi, nori strips, pickled cucumbers and dashi for dousing your rice with to create chazuke (a sort of porridge) if you so wish.

Sea Urchin and Wagyu Rice Bowl, $45

If eel ain’t your thing but you somehow ended up at Uya with your unagi-loving pals, you might consider ordering this decadent wagyu beef, Hokkaido sea urchin, and ikura don.

Uya Charcoal Grill Live Eel Cuisine’s Oasia Hotel Novena outlet is at #01-05 Novena Specialist Center, 8 Sinaran Dr, S307470. Open daily 11.30am-3pm (lunch); 6pm-9.30pm (dinner).  

Its Wheelock branch is at #02-15 Wheelock Place, 501 Orchard Rd, S238880. More info via its website, Facebook, Instagram.

With additional reporting from Florence Fong

Photos: Uya

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