There’s a stretch of Tanjong Pagar food scene that only really breathes after six.
The office lights start to dim. Collars loosen. And the side streets around Craig Road, Duxton Hill, and Neil Road fill with the low hum of diners who’ve decided the day can wait a little longer.
We’ve spent more evenings here than we’d care to admit, circling back to the casual eateries and izakayas that make sense after work: charcoal grills, oden counters, sake-heavy dining rooms, and tables where one small plate quietly becomes five. Some are casual enough for an unplanned Tuesday lunch or dinner. Others need a reservation and a reason.
What ties them together is that they give Tanjong Pagar more than simply another Japanese restaurant. Each offers a different version of the izakaya evening, from polished robatayaki to old-fashioned oden and lively yakitori featuring grilled skewers and juicy wagyu steak.
If your idea of good food and drinks includes wandering beyond Tanjong Pagar, our list of izakayas in Fortune Centre is a good next read, especially if you’re always searching for the best izakaya experiences, from hidden upstairs bars and umeshu rooms to small places that make more sense after the first drink.
1. Hiyaki Yakitori Izakaya Bar – Modern Yakitori Worth the Short Detour
Nearest MRT: Outram Park; slightly outside the Tanjong Pagar core
Price: Around S$30–S$90 per person depending on sashimi, wagyu steak, and alcohol
Opening hours: Mon–Thu, lunch and dinner; Fri–Sat, dinner; closed Sun
We’ll be upfront: Hiyaki sits just beyond the strict Tanjong Pagar core, on Kampong Bahru Road. It is closer to Outram Park than Tanjong Pagar MRT, so this is a deliberate detour rather than a station-side dinner.
It is also one of the stronger modern yakitori choices around the wider neighbourhood, serving juicy grilled items including marinated chicken skewers and pork belly.
The heart of the menu is charcoal-grilled chicken and wagyu steak, but Hiyaki does not stop at skewers. Fresh sashimi, bluefin tuna sushi, maki, and Japanese drinking food broaden the table enough that a group does not have to spend the whole night working through sticks of chicken. Highballs, sake, and shochu make it easy to turn dinner into a longer evening.
What we like most is the balance between izakaya informality and a more polished room. It feels contemporary without sanding away the drinking-house character altogether.
There is also private zaisu-style counter seating for groups wanting a quieter corner, while the main dining area works better when you want the buzz of an izakaya rather than a closed-door dinner.
The compromise is location. If your night has to remain strictly within a few minutes of Tanjong Pagar MRT, other names below are easier.
Worth the detour for: Modern yakitori, small groups, casual dates, and diners wanting grilled skewers and wagyu steak in a smarter setting.
Maybe skip it if: You need everything to stay inside the immediate Tanjong Pagar MRT radius.
Choose your corner: Go for the main dining area when you want more energy, or enquire about the private zaisu seating for a quieter group meal.
2. Robata AKARI Singapore (Craig Road) – The Splurge Around the Hearth
Nearest MRT: Tanjong Pagar (around 6–8 min walk)
Price: S$100+ per person; set-menu dining makes this one of the pricier choices here
Opening hours: Daily, evenings
Of everything on this list, Robata AKARI is the splurge.
It is better understood as an intimate robatayaki experience than a casual eatery. The room centres on charcoal cooking, with diners positioned around the counter so the grilling becomes part of the evening rather than something hidden behind a kitchen door.
That distinction matters. You are not coming here for a spontaneous round of cheap beers and skewers. You are paying for ingredient quality, careful grilling, and the slower rhythm of watching dinner emerge from the fire.
Expect premium seafood, vegetables, and meat treated simply enough for the charcoal to matter. Wagyu steak and grilled fish naturally suit the format, while the counter seating arrangement makes the chefs’ pacing part of what you are paying for.
The best nights here are the ones where nobody is rushing. Sit close to the hearth, let the meal unfold, and resist treating it like somewhere to squeeze in before the next bar.
Save this for: Special occasions, premium dates, and diners interested in robatayaki cooking.
Not the right night if: You want a cheap, spontaneous, beer-led izakaya session.
The seat matters: Ask for counter seating whenever possible. Watching the cooking is half the reason to come.
3. Niningashi (Craig Road) – The All-Round After-Work Izakaya with Extensive Menu
Nearest MRT: Tanjong Pagar (around 3–4 min walk)
Price: Roughly S$35–S$60 per person before a heavier sake order
Opening hours: Mon–Sat, lunch and dinner; closed Sun
Niningashi remains one of the easiest places here to recommend to someone who simply says, “I want an izakaya.”
Their extensive menu covers fresh sashimi, grilled skewers, deep-fried gyoza with crispy batter, shredded chicken dishes, and a variety of small plates. The flavourful broth-based dishes and milky broth ramen with springy noodles round out the offerings.
Fresh bluefin tuna sushi and house-made mentaiko sauce dishes like jaga mentaiko (thinly shredded potatoes baked with mentaiko sauce) are among the favourite items here.
The room gets properly busy in the evening too, which gives it the slightly noisy, table-filling energy that suits an after-work izakaya better than polished silence.
Recent diners continue to call out the sashimi and juicy grilled items, while happy-hour drinks and yakitori give early-evening visits an extra reason to start before the dinner rush.
The colossal chicken tsukune is still the kind of order we would build a table around. Follow it with sashimi, grilled fish or squid and whatever seasonal vegetables or mushrooms look strongest that evening rather than trying to turn the meal into a rigid procession.
The trade-off is noise. When Niningashi fills up, conversation gets louder and the room moves quickly. That is part of the appeal for us, but not everybody wants their sashimi with a soundtrack of Friday-night highballs.
Come here when: You want the classic drinks-plus-small-plates rhythm without committing to a specialist concept.
Maybe not if: Your priority is a quiet, highly polished date-night room.
Order it this way: Get grilled skewers and deep-fried dishes like gyoza in early, add sashimi for the table, and take advantage of the earlier drinks window if the night is already looking long.
4. KAMOSHITA (Neil Road) – Classic Oden and Serious Sake
Nearest MRT: Maxwell or Outram Park; around a short walk from either
Price: Around S$60 and up per person depending on à la carte choices and sake; omakase begins from about S$60
Opening hours: Mon–Thu, dinner; Fri–Sun, lunch and dinner
KAMOSHITA fills a gap in this list that none of the grill-led places quite covers.
At 5 Neil Road, this is an oden-centred izakaya where sake is taken just as seriously as the simmering pot behind the counter. The mood is closer to the classic Japanese drinking-house idea from the Edo period: settle in, choose a drink, order a few things, then keep adding dishes as the night finds its rhythm.
Oden is the obvious place to begin. Daikon, egg, fish cake tofu, cabbage, and other ingredients arrive carrying the flavour of the broth rather than buried beneath aggressive seasoning. Reviews repeatedly single out the oden as one of the reasons to visit, along with house-made cheeses, vegetable crudo with bagna cauda, and cold udon noodles.
There is an omakase option from around S$60, although we actually like the case for going à la carte here. It lets you build the evening in a more recognisably izakaya fashion: a few oden pieces, something cold, perhaps the house-made cheese, another sake, then udon if you are still hungry.
Sake and shochu selections run from approachable pours to less-common bottles, with options by the glass, carafe, and bottle.
There is also an interesting bit of neighbourhood continuity here. Chef Koki Miyoshi, who now runs HEARTH further down Craig Road, previously cooked at KAMOSHITA. You can feel the shared respect for oden and slower Japanese cooking, even though the two restaurants have developed very different personalities.
Service has drawn mixed comments from some diners, so we would come primarily for the food, counter seating atmosphere, and drinks rather than expecting a heavily choreographed hospitality experience.
Come for: Oden, sake, counter dining, and a more traditional izakaya rhythm.
Think twice if: You want big portions, loud group energy, or a grill-heavy menu.
How we’d order: Choose à la carte unless you specifically want the omakase. Start with a few oden pieces and house-made cheese, then let the sake decide what comes next.
5. HEARTH Irori & Oden Izakaya (Craig Road) – Slow Charcoal Cooking and Oden
Nearest MRT: Tanjong Pagar (around 5–7 min walk)
Price: Around S$80–S$100+ per person depending on menu and drinks
Opening hours: Mon dinner; Wed–Sun lunch and dinner; closed Tue
A few minutes from KAMOSHITA, the mood shifts from simmering pot to open fire.
HEARTH is built around irori cooking, with chef Koki Miyoshi using the Japanese hearth to grill fish, pork belly, meat, and vegetables slowly over charcoal. He previously cooked at KAMOSHITA, but HEARTH is not simply a second version of it. The grill is much more central here.
This is the place for grilled rice balls carrying a smoky crust, tender fish cheek, charcoal-grilled fish and meat, oden served with unusual care, and sake chosen to sit beside the smoke.
Recent Google reviewers repeatedly praise the grilled dishes in particular, including fish, wagyu steak, chicken, and the wagyu keema curry, while the oden remains an important supporting part of the menu.
What makes HEARTH work is the patience of it. Nothing about sitting around an open fire feels hurried, and the restaurant is better when you lean into that instead of arriving with somewhere else to be in 45 minutes.
It can get busy, and reservations are sensible, especially if sitting near the hearth matters to you.
Best saved for: Slow dates, small groups, and diners who appreciate charcoal cooking as much as the final plate.
Skip this mood if: You want cheap rounds, quick service, and a loud group dinner.
Seat to ask for: Counter or chef-adjacent seating, because proximity to the fire changes the experience.
6. Nanami Izakaya (Craig Road) – The Easy Everyday Casual Eatery Option
Nearest MRT: Tanjong Pagar (around 3–5 min walk)
Price: Around S$20–S$40 per person for a straightforward meal; more with sashimi and alcohol
Opening hours: Lunch and dinner service on most days; closed Sun
Nanami used to sit on Enggor Street, but the restaurant has since moved to 3 Craig Road, bringing it even closer to several of the izakayas already clustered around this part of Tanjong Pagar.
Its role remains largely the same: this is the approachable, everyday casual eatery.
The extensive menu covers the recognisable izakaya spread of fresh sashimi, yakitori grilled skewers, tempura with crispy batter, deep-fried gyoza, and other Japanese comfort dishes, while lunch adds donburi and set-meal territory. There is also sake, shochu, and umeshu for anyone turning a straightforward dinner into a longer one.
That breadth is useful. Not every Tanjong Pagar dinner needs to revolve around a chef’s counter, premium charcoal, or a carefully structured omakase. Sometimes you want sashimi, something grilled, noodles, rice, and a drink without having to turn the evening into an event.
That is where Nanami fits best.
It does not have the specialist identity of KAMOSHITA or HEARTH, nor the louder after-work character of Niningashi. But for an easy Japanese dinner that can lean izakaya when you want it to, the flexibility is the point.
Works best for: Casual lunches, straightforward office dinners, and groups wanting familiar Japanese choices.
Do not expect: A deeply specialised sake den or a destination-level charcoal experience.
Make it more izakaya: Skip the one-bowl-and-go approach at dinner. Add sashimi or grilled plates to share and order a drink so the meal has time to stretch.
So, Where Should Tonight's Tanjong Pagar Izakaya Night Take You?
The better question is not simply which restaurant is “best.” It is what kind of evening you want to have in the vibrant Tanjong Pagar food scene, known for its rich variety of Japanese dining options.
Take the short walk to Hiyaki when modern yakitori and grilled skewers featuring juicy chicken and wagyu steak sound right. Their menu balances the smoky flavors of charcoal with fresh ingredients like green onions and spicy sauce that complement the skewers perfectly. Save Robata AKARI for the night when watching premium ingredients cook over charcoal is the occasion itself, offering a rich, slow dining experience.
For the most flexible, recognisable after-work izakaya experience, Niningashi remains difficult to beat. Their extensive menu includes shredded chicken dishes and grilled skewers that pair wonderfully with sake. When you want the night built around classic oden and sake instead, KAMOSHITA gives Neil Road a quieter, more traditional counterpoint, with a cozy atmosphere enhanced by decor sourced from antique markets in Japan.
Then there is HEARTH, where the fire slows everything down, and Nanami, the uncomplicated Craig Road option when nobody wants to overthink dinner but still craves familiar Japanese flavors like onion-topped dishes and spicy elements.
Tanjong Pagar works because those nights can all happen within the same neighbourhood. One evening can be highballs and grilled skewers; another can be daikon sitting patiently in dashi while a bottle of sake disappears one small cup at a time.
Pick by mood. Go hungry. And leave enough room in the evening for the second order you were not planning to make.
Whether you are drawn by the spicy sauce on a yakitori skewer, the delicate touch of green onions in a sashimi plate, or the rich umami of slow-cooked oden, Tanjong Pagar offers a uniquely satisfying Japanese izakaya experience right in Singapore’s CBD.
Author's Note
We have become stricter about what earns a place in this guide. A good Tanjong Pagar food list should not simply preserve familiar names; it should reflect the restaurants we can meaningfully send someone to now and give each one a clear reason for being here.
KAMOSHITA belongs because it adds something the rest of the neighbourhood does not quite replicate:* a long-running, oden-first izakaya on Neil Road with a serious sake selection and the kind of counter dining that rewards ordering slowly. It also completes an interesting thread through the neighbourhood, with former KAMOSHITA chef Koki Miyoshi now expressing a more fire-led version of Japanese cooking at HEARTH.*
We have also tightened the guide around currently operating restaurants and where they sit today. That means Nanami is now treated as a Craig Road restaurant rather than its former Enggor Street home, while places that can no longer anchor a night out have been left behind.
The result is a shorter but more useful picture of Tanjong Pagar: not six versions of the same izakaya, but six different reasons to stay out after work.
