The best new restaurants in Singapore 2026

What is it? Tucked away in the basement of Havelock II, this casual, unassuming 18-seater is packed out daily for lunch and dinner. Why are people flocking down? Its signature 36-hour slow-cooked curry, enjoyed with Japanese rice.

Why we love it: The brains behind the concept are Chef Ho Bing Rru and Aidan Wee, formerly from the fine-dining restaurant Fleurette. The duo later opened Kuro Kare at Singapore Management University (SMU) in 2023, popular with students and office workers for its simple, hearty line-up of Japanese fare at affordable prices. Here, things get more creative, with a rotation of off-menu items alongside staples like the curry rice. Think 'Siam Tiu chicken wings', deboned and drenched in a spicy Thai-style sauce, as well as 'kaya toast', which sees seasoned negitoro and avocado between crispy brioche slices, with a soy-marinated egg yolk on the side. 

Time Out tip: Lunch sets are priced below $22, and if you want something quick and easy, order the Iberico pork katsu curry rice ($16.90). For dinner, reservations are a must – find the booking link on their Instagram page and secure your seats.

Address: 2 Havelock Road, Havelock II, B1-32, Singapore 059763
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 11.30am-3pm, 6pm-10pm

What is it? Chef Denis Lucchi, the man behind one-Michelin-starred Buona Terra and Locando, strikes out with a new casual Italian concept along Neil Road.

Why we love it: Assaggi is a contemporary Italian degustation restaurant focused on the idea of flavour over form, and where you can get a taste of Lucchi's cooking at a fraction of the price of Buona Terra. The three-course lunch menu starts at $58 per person, but those after a fuller experience can opt for The Signature Journey or The Pasta Journey ($88 per person), both options served with a selection of welcome snacks and house-made bread. Assaggi's bread course is a showstopper: a mountain of whipped Beppino Occelli butter to pair with honey-glazed brioche with balsamic reduction and duck fat. But the true highlights here are the excellent pastas – everything from pappardelle with osobucco and gremolata, to red prawn fusilli and paccheri done amatriciana style.

Time Out tip: The cocktails are worth ordering too, curated by Japanese speakeasy Bar Kakure, with creations like the Assaggi Negroni, Paloma, Sicilian Spritz and more, priced competitively at $18 per drink.

Address: 77A Neil Road, Singapore 088903
Opening hours: Tue-Sat noon-3pm, 6pm-10.30pm

What is it? Just over a year after opening his fine-dining concept Asu at Labrador Park, Chef Ace Tan ported over his kitchen and team to Boat Quay. 

Why we love it: Some elements of Asu live on here, from the space's design to the philosophy behind the food. The cooking is still guided by 食疗 (shi liao), or Chinese food therapy, a concept Chef Tan grew up with through his family's Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) background. But at Asin, the TCM message is less forced. At launch, Asin offers an eight-course tasting menu ($188 per person) with four optional supplements available. Our favourite dish? The cold Yum Pu Ma noodles – a nod to Thai raw marinated crab. It's both appetising and addictive, combining fern and rice noodles with hanasaki crab with a Teochew-style marinade and a dizzying array of Southeast Asian vegetables in an accompanying salad.

Time Out tip: Ngor Hiang 6.0 ($18) and the FTQ Dumpling ($35) are optional supplements, but if you are choosing between both, our vote goes to the former. 

Address: 38 Carpenter St, Singapore 059917
Opening hours: Wed-Sun 6pm-11pm

What is it? Hikiniku To Come, known in Tokyo for its charcoal-grilled hamburg patties, is now open in VivoCity. And we think it might be the best hamburg steak spot in Singapore right now.

Why we love it: There's just one item on the menu: a signature set ($27.90) with three patties served in succession and with different pairing options. Each round contains finely ground Japanese beef, grilled and seared to perfection over binchotan charcoal, and served directly to your plate. Enjoy it as is – it's delightfully juicy, well-seasoned and cooked through – pair it with grated radish and ponzu sauce for a refreshing bite, or dipped in raw egg for a silky texture. There are over eight condiments and sauces for endless combinations, unlimited rice refills, miso soup, as well as sides like potato salad and kimchi. 

Time Out tip: We highly recommend ordering the house-made ginger soda, which is punchy, refreshing, and just what you need to wash down the grease and oil before reaching for another bite.

Address: 1 Habourfront Walk, VivoCity, #01-102/103, Singapore 098585
Opening hours: Daily 11am-10pm

What is it? This new standing burger bar is cut from the same cloth as its predecessor, Scarpetta, located just three doors down. No reservations, a tight menu, reasonable CBD prices and a fuss-free 'in and out' dining experience. 

Why we love it: Smash Street keeps things simple and sharp with just two burgers and three sides on its menu. The patties are a blend of Australian Black Angus brisket, chuck, short rib and dry-aged trimmings, with a good fat-to-meat ratio. Behind the counter, head chef Reisuke Kiyose presses down, almost smearing the patties over the griddle for guaranteed crispy edges. The classic burger ($14) features two of those patties, sandwiched between buttered potato buns. It's then topped with cheese, pickles and a house-made smoked pickled jalapeño sauce. The house burger has more heft and structure. At $17, it comes with three patties, cheese and your choice of pickles or jalapeño. 

Time Out tip: A new cocktail bar is also in the works. In a few weeks' time, you'll be able to visit Blind Tiger, the pocket-sized Prohibition-inspired drinking den on the second floor.

Address: 50 Amoy Street, Singapore 069876
Opening hours: Daily 11.30am-2.30pm, 6pm-10.30pm

What is it? Sio Pasta – the casual offshoot of Tokyo’s Michelin-recognised restaurant Sio Aoyama, which has been featured in the Michelin Guide Tokyo for six consecutive years – just opened its very first international outpost at Raffles City Shopping Centre.

Why we love it: The idea is straightforward: Italian food made with characteristic Japanese precision, but priced and paced for everyday meals, not just once-in-a-while splurges. Look forward to over 10 varieties of fresh pasta, priced from $13.80. Must-orders include the fried egg, cheese and salted kelp ($13.80) combination, which is hearty yet surprisingly light. The self-named 'Best Mentaiko Pasta' ($16.80) is equally addictive, with al dente strands coated in an umami-rich mentaiko cream sauce. But our winner is the pork belly and mushroom pasta ($16.80), which includes one of our favourite Japanese condiments – yuzu kosho.

Time Out tip: Beyond pastas, Sio Pasta also offers sides like baguettes with fig or mentaiko butter ($4.80), black garlic pepper fried chicken (from $4.80) and eight-inch pizzas for sharing.

Address: 252 North Bridge Rd, Raffles City Shopping Centre, #B1-16, Singapore 179103
Opening hours: Daily 11am-10pm

What is it? After a year off, Chef Tomoo Kimura of the former 22-seater Sushi Kimura returns to Singapore. In its place is an intimate eight-seat counter where every piece of sushi is made by chef Tomoo himself.

Why we love it: Forget the stiff, near-silent sushi temples where even the shuffle of a chair feels like a faux pas. Chef Tomoo runs a far warmer room, picking up on stray questions and giving short spiels on where the various ingredients come from. The main event is 10 pieces of perfectly crafted sushi. Each piece is presented on a glass counter with a mirrored underside – a setup that lets you inspect the sushi from every angle. The shari is the standout. Too often, sushi rice is either packed too tightly or falls apart at first touch. Here, it lands squarely in the middle – structured enough to hold, loose enough to dissolve gently on the palate. Some of our favourite pieces from the evening were the impossibly sweet cockle clam, meltingly tender chutoro, expertly prepared aji and luxuriously soft anago.

Time Out tip: If you can gather a group of eight, take the whole counter. The layout – six seats directly in front of the chef and a couple tucked to the side – works best when it’s a private session. Oh and if the ankimo (monkfish liver) is available as an optional add-on, get it.

Address: 1 Cuscaden Rd, Conrad Singapore, #01-03, Singapore 249715
Opening hours: Wed-Fri & Sun 12.30pm-2.30pm, 7pm-9.30pm; Tue & Sat 7pm-9.30pm

What is it? Expect traditional Spanish dishes to be given a creative twist and dressed up several notches at this new restaurant along buzzy Amoy Street.

Why we love it: We like how the juicy barbecued oysters ($10 each) glide smoothly, with a deeply savoury escabeche sauce masking their usual brininess – a very different but surprisingly pleasant take on oysters. When the crew brings out the long-stemmed glasses to our table, our first thought is that dessert must have arrived a few courses too early. Little did we know, the parfait-like dish is one of the signatures at Amor, called Happy Eggggg ($18). Pumpkin purée, truffle sabayon, a 65°C onsen egg, crispy Jamón chips and brown butter sourdough croutons come together in a tantalising medley that we polish off far too quickly. 

Time Out tip: Amor also offers a wallet-friendly $38 lunch set that includes four tapas, a main and a dessert. 

Address: 107 Amoy St, Singapore 069927
Opening hours: Mon-Sat noon-3pm

What is it? Barrel takes izakaya dining to the next level with whisky-infused dishes and Singapore's most expensive chicken rice.

Why we love it: Backed by Suntory and said to be the first Hibiki-focused concept outside of Japan, this new restaurant on Cecil Street elevates the after-work drinking experience, adding polish and style beyond the usual beers and fries. At Barrel, the sauces are layered and sometimes whisky-infused – with Hibiki, of course – while the dishes, though still casual and snackable, are dressed up a notch. We prefer the aburi wagyu donabe to the chicken rice, Folded with cured egg yolk, plenty of green onions and nori, each bite is textural, buttery and highly addictive. 

Time Out tip: To quench your thirst, flip through the drinks menu, where you'll find everything from whisky by the glass to Hibiki flights, whisky-infused cocktails and more. Simpler profiles pair beautifully with food, like the Hibiki mizuwari or highball ($18 each).

Address: 19 Cecil St, Singapore 049704
Opening hours: Mon-Sat noon-11pm

What is it? Chef Bjorn Shen's latest F&B venture is Jellyfish Sushi, a restaurant-in-a-restaurant that sits within Artichoke and beside Small's in New Bahru.

Why we love it: If Small's is Shen's experimental R&D playground, Jellyfish Sushi carries that same ethos, except with a sharper focus on sushi-like creations and raw or lightly-treated ingredients – particularly seafood. At launch, the intimate 10-seater is serving a 12-course bread sushi omakase ($165 per person), where instead of shari (vinegared rice), it's bread that takes centre stage. Our favourite is the third course: red sea bream aged between sheets of kombu – a traditional method called kombujime to achieve a greater depth of flavour – dressed with garlic oil, spring onions, pickled ginger, sesame seeds and lemon zest. Think yu sheng but savoury rather than sweet. Rocket leaves and pistachio pesto are added, and the salad-like dish sits above a piece of thin, fluffy top crust. 

Time Out tip: As only ten seats are available, we recommend booking early.

Address: 46 Kim Yam Rd, New Bahru, Artichoke, #01-02, Singapore 239351
Opening hours: Tue-Sat 6pm-10.15pm