Hide Yamamoto

Basic and common pieces of sushi, many taste extremely fishy like they’ve been sitting out for some time. Service is great and chefs are friendly, however. If you are looking for California rolls, they have it here.
Hide Yamamoto is a multi-​concept sushi, teppanyaki, ramen and robataya restaurant. The sushi bar is hidden behind the bar area, that’s what this review is based on.
My girlfriend and I had an event at Marina Bay Sands and were feeling like having some good sushi. We heard from a friend about checking out Hide Yamamoto since it’s one of the best in Singapore, so we made an easy last minute Saturday night reservation and walked in to a fairly quiet sushi counter except they have some awful supermarket or dentist office background music playing.
The restaurant is located in the casino area so you know this is a spot meant for the high rollers that need a break from gambling to have good sushi. We do a 10 piece sushi omakase with miso soup and order the Japanese Fruits, Sesame and Matcha Ice creams, and the Matcha Tiramasu.
Service is very attentive and the chef is very kind but the quality definitely comes nowhere near Ashino or even Hashida. Our first few pieces of nigiri were overpowered by the wasabi, both my girlfriend and I were literally in tears until we told the chef to put in less (does not look or taste to be fresh wasabi). All of the pieces were your typical — sea eel, salmon roe (extremely fishy and bad tasting), sea urchin, mackerel, salmon belly, toro, snapper, egg and two others I can’t recall at the moment. For the price, this definitely should be nowhere near your top destination unless you need to stick around MBS.
The Japanese Fruits were your usual Melon and Japanese grape which are always good anywhere you go.
The Sesame and Matcha ice creams were your usual also.
The Matcha Tiramasu was pretty bad and tasted like it was sitting out for awhile. Not sure why it is called tiramasu too since it was nothing like tiramasu.
Very expensive meal with mediocre quality. Much better restaurants around Singapore. However, if you want your more easier beginner level sushi like California rolls, this would be a great place for you.

This establishment should be renamed «HideOUSLY Expensive». Save Yamoney.
Insanely and unjustifiably expensive sushi restaurant clearly intended for those who are either on a business expense account or have won big at the tables at the Marina Bay Sands casino.
While the quality of the food is fine, the price points are absurd.

It turns out that it took me two whole years to decide to return to Hide again. Guess that speaks to how on-​the-​fence I was based on the first experience or that Singapore’s restaurant scene offers enough competition. Either way not a good sign and I’m afraid I’ve taken Hide’s rating down a notch.
I’ll start by saying I do want to like Hide. It’s open for lunch, unlike Waku or Shinji on certain days and its easier to get the seats I want compared to the likes of Aoki. The restaurant is what I would call an upscale Japanese «food court» for gamblers because you get decent food just outside the casino and you don’t have to dress up or sit through an entire degustation. However, even if Hide is a food court on crack, it has to deliver some value and this is where things get spotty.
Hide’s robataki is still good, but the sushi isn’t. On this visit, I tried the 10 piece sushi set meal for lunch that costs about the same as Shinji’s entry level lunch option. I loved the starters (3 tasters consisting of mushrooms, kelp and some snail-​looking seafood) and absolutely enjoyed the chawanmushi. People this is chawanmushi on crack. The chefs produced an ephemeral cloud-​in-​your-​mouth smoothneess, topped it with a layer of truffle and salt, and THEN a dollop of uni. It’s a little bit of overkill theoretically but everything came together perfectly on the palate.
Then came my sushi. What was wrong with it? The wasabi was overwhelming. It was overwhelming to the point where I, eater of lots of spicy things, had to stop at my third piece in the middle of a business lunch, to ask the waitress to take my sushi back and have it re-​done. Let me just say that I didn’t do that lightly. I know better than to insult any chef by returning an entire plate of food, let alone a Japanese chef and to do so while I’m in the midst of a work lunch.
I realized that the chef didn’t know I was a lady (which depending on who you ask, would mean smaller pieces of sushi — I actually like this policy when it comes to kuruma or ebi sushi) or my taste preferences because the waiters didn’t ask. They couldn’t even recall who ordered what and we could hear them repeatedly asking each other who ordered the sakura vs muro sets. It sounds nitpicky but I have eaten at traditional sushi restaurants for work where my table isn’t at or near the counter and the waiters bent over backwards to make sure our reactions to the food were conveyed to the chef. For example at Shinji here, after my first course of sushi I found the wasabi too strong and kinda shirked a bit and the waitress asked me if I would like the chef to tone down the flavor in my subsequent courses. It also makes sense when you’re trying to serve without disrupting a conversation. To make things worse, instead of just taking away my plate, the waitress went and got the chef to come out and in Japanese fashion, he apologized with a half bow and took my plate away (and later came out with the re-​made sushi). Yup I was pretty mortified. On the flip side, I could say that it shows the chef does care so much that he would personally come out to address the situation. In reality, I think the waitress literally didn’t know how to handle my request and her superior kind of shrugged and said go ask the chef its not my problem.
The sushi itself was also disappointing. 3 of us had sushi and we all found the rice a little hard and under-​vinegared (I know there’s no such word but you get what I mean). The seafood itself was fresh — I liked the uni and what looked and tasted like hokkigai — but it was let down by the rice and overly mild soy sauces brushed on. It was quite confusing when you consider the wasabi overload, which on the second attempt, was a lot more palatable. For dessert, I liked the fruits but the little square cake served was too quickly defrosted and I could still taste some cold bits at the bottom.
To top this all off, the restaurant was monstrously cold. There is only one section where people can sit at full tables instead of counters and the whole area was lined with air con vents blasting air that could ice an igloo. I asked for a shawl and upon inquiring about changing tables, it seemed like the staff already knew this was an issue.
So how do I conclude my review? My whole experience was not acceptable for a restaurant that wants to charge such prices, which I honestly am happy to pay or have someone else pay, if we received value in return. I’ll overlook the fact that the dress code is non-​existent and that the décor has aged or looks aged enough to warrant the upscale food court title. The service was disappointing, but it was due to a lack of training rather effort because our waiters did seem to want to please. Finally the food, depending on what you order, can be excellent or meh. I guess my advice would be go to Hide knowing exactly what’s good on the menu and have some alcohol to keep warm!

I went for the sushi experience with a friend. We each ordered 8 pieces of Nigiri. Each piece was really delicious. It was also nice watching the sushi chef prepare each piece. Everything was perfectly seasoned and ready to eat as is. The standout pieces were the daily specials — the specific names of the fish escape me at the moment — so be sure to ask the sushi chef if they have anything special.
After the sushi, we were both still a little hungry, so we had the tonkotsu ramen. The broth was really great, and the texture of the noodles was perfect.
The major caveat of this place is the price — it is insanely expensive. As great as the food was and how fantastic the service was, the bill was hard to stomach. The bill came out to ~$ 170 each (a bowl of ramen alone was over $ 30). So, overall everything was great, it just came at a very high price. One other thing worth mentioning is that even though it was a fine dining environment it didn’t feel stuffy at all, it was very comfortable.

Hide Yamamoto is hideously expensive, especially on a holiday weekend. Good food, but you need to know where to aim your dollars at, unless you’re one of the big rollers at the casino below.
After ordering multiple items from the different menus, I have come to conclude that their robata items are better than the sushi/​sashimi items. The grilled foie gras was melt-​in-​your-​mouth tender, and the claypot had that smoky aroma. The sushi/​sashimi fish was fresh, tender and had good flavour. Although reasonably fresh from Tsukiji, I wasn’t wowed by the price for what you get. That evening, a newbie chef was on duty. I observed him fumbling and the pieces of fish appeared irregularly cut. No matter, the fish went into my belly.
After a while, an obnoxious and extremely loud tai tai (think Asian version of The Real Housewives) came in and ordered up a storm. Was subsequently ignored by the wait staff while they went to attend to her needs.
Some of the menu items had no prices listed. As someone once advised me: «If you have to ask how much it costs, you can’t afford it.» Unfortunately, I do not have the deep pockets to compete with the tai tais. You will next spot me buying a take-​out bento box at the basement of Takashimaya dept store.

My friend who loves it there brought me there and ordered everything which she thought was good, for me.
Ordered a Teppanyaki Lunch course which was modified a little bit. I had the Lobster instead and added in the Chawanmushi because she said it was that good.
Long story short, I was VERY impressed with the freshness and taste of the lobster and the smoothness of the Chawanmushi. These 2 really stood out for me. Others were good too don’t get me wrong… but not WOW.
Another thing that was outstanding was of course the service as well. However, I would have not expected any less service for those kinds of prices.
Definitely a place to consider to bring someone to, be it an intimate date or a leisure business over lunch.

Hide Yamamoto is definitely worth going to, don’t let the 3 stars dissuade you. I was very much pleasantly surprised by the price, it’s a lot more affordable than most of the other celebrity chef restaurants in the building, and there isn’t much of a drop off in quality. With a sushi counter, robatayaki counter, and ramen area, it’s rare that a Japanese restaurant aims to specialise in multiple things, and even rarer that it does all those things well. Hide Yamamoto does, and that is in and itself worthy of praise.
If and when you do go, make sure sure you try the truffle and uni chawanmushi. It’s excellent. The egg and truffle, as expected, pair perfectly, and the sea urchin adds an opulence to the dish that takes it worth it’s eye-​brow raising price of $ 30++.
The grilled foie gras is also worth trying, it was perfectly cooked, just crisp on the outside, and still melt in your mouth at its core. I was also enchanted with their «Japanese style Apple Pie», which were yuzu-​scented caramelised apples, cinnamon ice-​cream, all neatly stacked on filo pastry. I was tempted to order a second portion because it was JUST THAT GOOD.
So. To sum. My date and I ordered one portion of beef, the foie gras, grilled squid, another portion of pork belly, the chawanmushi, a portion of the mushroom and snow crab claypot rice, and each had a dessert. All that for about $ 120 per head. That’s not bad eh?

Love the food here. Try to get a seat by the grill ans order the roasted chicken stuffed with truffle rice.

HIde Yamamoto is a great place to go for Japanese food when you find yourself in Marina Bay Sands and don’t feel like breaking the bank at Waku Ghin but yet would like a bit more privacy than Bay Sushi or Todai.
I love the sushi and sashimi and the teppanyaki items. They do a great grilled wagyu beef dish and I absolutely love the grilled Alaskan king crab with Japanese broth. The truffle edamame brings the ordinary appetiser to a whole new level and the chawanmushi with truffle and uni is yum! There’s also a wide selection of ramen.
Service is excellent and the ambience is pleasant and not too stuffy.