Comprising a main dining hall and two private dining areas, NAMI is the new Japanese restaurant and bar located on the 24th floor of Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore. The restaurant setting is bright and inviting, offering plenty of natural light through floor to ceiling glass windows. Headlined by chef Shigeo Akiba from Yokohama, the food served here is uncomplicated yet refined.

The menu is extensive, ranging from affordable lunch sets such as executive set lunch that start from $35 to a la carte orders to chef’s special lunch course priced at $120. For the full experience, go for chef Akiba’s lunch course which offers an appetiser, a soup, assorted sashimi, a main dish of either a meat or fish, miso soup, a rice dish and dessert.

The sashimi is very fresh and comprises scallops, sea bream, sweet shrimp, tuna and yellowtail. Another notable dish is the soup with uni wrapped in pike conger eel, made with a clear, umami-laden dashi, which appears unassuming but packs a flavour punch. If you still have space, consider restaurant signatures such as pan-fried tuna head and sliced raw Japanese saga wagyu beef sirloin A4 served with vegetables. The latter, comprising thin slices of beef that are cooked briefly in sweet sauce and served on mixed vegetables such as mizuna and cabbage, is both comforting and delicious.