KOMA at Marina Bay Sands: A Beautiful Room, and Sushi That Doesn’t Quite Earn the Bill

Singapore · Sushi · Marina Bay Sands · About $590 SGD for three, before tip

What I told Vika afterward, once I’d seen the bill, was that KOMA‘s room is incredible and KOMA’s food is good — and those turn out to be two different things. I had dinner here with two coworkers on a work night out at The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands, under a ceiling full of paper parasols and across from a bronze bell the size of a small car. The sushi was fresh, the room was unreal, the service was sharp. I also walked out sure I’d eaten just as well in Singapore for half the price.

Not sponsored. We paid for everything ourselves, and we didn’t tell KOMA we were coming.

First, the room (because the room is what you’re buying)

You don’t walk into KOMA so much as walk under it. The entrance is a curved canopy of gold paper parasols; then a hallway of bright orange torii gates lined up like a tiny Fushimi Inari, so that by the end you’ve been told, without a word, that the next two hours are a show. At the far end is the bell — a bronze sculpture the size of a small car. You cross a little wooden footbridge into the dining room, where the ceiling is a forest of giant kasa parasols lit gold from beneath, with a mezzanine floating above. It’s the most photographed room in Marina Bay Sands, and probably half the reason anyone’s here. KOMA is the centerpiece of a luxury mall built to make you feel like you should spend money, and it works.

The beers

Every day is a hot day in Singapore, so a cold beer does real work. KOMA pours two Suntory Premium Malts out of Kyoto. The standard is crisp, clean, a little bready — exactly right with sushi. The Master’s Dream is the one to order: rounder, a slightly sweeter malt that holds up as the meal stretches. Almost a tie; Master’s Dream wins by a beer length.

What we ate

Three of us, ordering for the table: edamame, Hokkaido scallop sashimi, the Monaka Sushi tasting board, the 7 Treasure Vegetable roll, the Truffle Unagi roll, the Spicy Yellowtail roll, a custom nigiri trio (maguro, hirame, seared otoro), the Hokkaido scallop robata, two Negima yakitori, the Truffle Fried Rice, and a dessert.

The dish that justified the prices was the Monaka Sushi — six small bites on a plank, each a different study; the ikura on shiso I went back to twice, the spicy yellowtail hit cleanest, the truffle unagi was rich without tipping over. If you order one thing here that lives up to the bill, order this. The Hokkaido scallop sashimi — paper-thin slices in a cast-iron pan with scallion oil and a few mustard seeds — was clean, sweet, properly cold, one of my favorites of the night. The Spicy Yellowtail roll (crispy fried shallots, a mild spicy mayo) is the one to point at, even if I’d have wanted more heat. The Truffle Fried Rice was fantastic, and the grilled Hokkaido scallop robata in its shell with butter soy was the indulgence that hit the way the bill demanded. The Truffle Unagi roll and the nigiri trio were good and clean but the kind of thing I’ve had done with more care for half the price. Two Negima skewers for sixteen dollars is the moment you start doing math in your head.

One real miss: the wasabi wasn’t real wasabi — the dyed horseradish paste you get at places that aren’t trying. At this price, in this room, that’s the one cost-saving move you can taste.

The quiet strength: gluten-free done right

Part of why we landed at KOMA is that one of my coworkers is gluten-intolerant, and KOMA has one of the most genuinely extensive gluten-free setups I’ve seen — not a “we can probably do that,” but an actual second menu. If you’ve traveled with someone who can’t eat gluten, you know how rare it is to walk into a sushi restaurant abroad and have the staff confidently route around it without making it a thing. That matters more than most reviews of this place will tell you.

What we ordered and what it cost

Three of us, two beers between us, all the dishes above plus dessert — about $590 SGD, no cocktails or sake this visit. That’s close to $200 SGD a head for food that, on its own, would land around $100 in a quieter part of the city. The rest is the room: you’re paying to be inside Marina Bay Sands, and (whether you realize it or not) for the fact that KOMA is a TAO Group room — the same company behind Tao, Hakkasan, and LAVO — where the room, not the food, is the product. Taylor Swift was photographed eating here on the Eras Tour, and that’s in the price too.

The verdict

Beautiful room, serious gluten-free coverage, fresh sushi competently done, two Suntory drafts brewed for exactly this kind of night, and a bill that’s paying for the story as much as the food. If you have the money for the experience and want a night to talk about, KOMA earns the visit. If your single goal is the best sushi for the money in Singapore, I’ve had it just as good for half the price — quieter rooms, more care for the fish than the lighting.