This used to be a sushi bar, a part of Shunsui group of Japanese restaurants in Cuppage Plaza that includes Kemuri and their flagship Shunsui. But recently they changed the concept of Komachi to serve obanzai and koryori.
Obanzai is a traditional Kyoto-style of home cooking featuring nourishing, seasonal, and vegetable-forward small dishes. Koryori is a broader, elegant term for Japanese culinary arts, referring to highly skilled, ingredient-focused cuisine prepared in a cozy, intimate restaurant setting. Strictly speaking for food to be considered obanzai, at least half of its ingredients must be produced or processed in Kyoto. As they just opened for less than a month when I was there with Princess in Jun, they were still trying their very best to tweak everything.
You will receive an otoshi, which is a small, complimentary appetiser served with your first drink and included in a cover charge. In this case, the cover charge wasn’t small ($14 per person) but they have prepared a variety of small bites to “cover” the charge. From left to right, there a couple of pieces of simmered eel, marinated bamboo shoots, shredded stewed carrots, some Kyoto-style pickles and a lotus root sandwich (two slices of lotus roots stuffed with meat and pan-fried). The variety will change everyday, depending on the ingredients availability and the okami’s mood.
I can only read some of the words on the all Japanese menu – nasu, gyoza – but it wasn’t what I thought it was. Essentially, it’s pork and prawn gyoza, but instead of gyoza skin, the filling is sandwiched between thin slices of eggplant. A bit messy to eat as the filling was quite generous and the eggplant isn’t really dumpling wrapper ad it cannot be sealed. But the flavour was outstanding.
Next, another favourite of mine in these situations when the menu was only in Japanese and the staff could only speak Japanese. You can never go wrong with oden, a hearty and warming stew made by cooking different fish-based items in a dashi broth. Came with my favourite items – ganmodoki, konnyaku, daikon.
You cannot believe how big my eyes became when this onigiri (Japanese rice ball) were served. Usually they are triangular ones about the size of three pieces of nigiri sushi. But the onigiri was the size of a grapefruit.
It was stuffed with a whole piece of mentaiko (marinated cod roe). Very satisfying and filling.
I ordered another izakaya favourite, buta no kakuni. Because they only had half a portion left, it was given to me for free. What generous hosts they are! The pork belly was melt-in-mouth tender, and the sweetness was just about rice. It would be perfect with a bowl of steamed rice, but after the onigiri I couldn’t eat anymore.
And as we drank our highballs, the waiter brought out some homemade burdock chips that he made himself. The crispy chips were coated with a sweet, spicy, MSG-laden flavouring that reminded me of the dried fish that we used to get on a stick (satay fish stick) when we were kids. Quite good and salty so you will drink more, which was the purpose of offering us some of these.
It seems like a place for two or three people to have fun drinking. Good home-cooked food with friendly service that made us feel right at home. It’s small, so it might not be suitable for a large group. It has just started, but the potential to be something interesting and good is there.
Komachi 小料理こまち
150 Orchard Road #03-55 Orchard Plaza, Singapore 238841
Visited Jun 2026
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