NO GST · 16 SEATS, BY RESERVATION · GIFT CARDS AVAILABLE
THE RULES
Take no life. Avoid the five pungent vegetables. Cook with the season. Waste nothing.
Shojin cooks compose each meal by the Rule of Five: five colours (red, green, yellow, black, white), five flavours (sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami) and five methods (raw, steamed, simmered, grilled, braised).
Our cooking comes from somewhere older and stricter: Shojin Ryori (精進料理), the plant-based cuisine of Japan's Zen Buddhist temples. Shojin means devotion, or diligent effort. For centuries, Zen monks have cooked by a few rules: take no life, so no meat, fish, egg or dairy; avoid the five pungent vegetables (garlic, onion, leek, chives and shallot); cook with the season; waste nothing.
Wakamama keeps those rules: fully plant-based, allium-free, seasonal and low-waste. Then we apply fine-dining technique: fermentation, ageing, curing, smoking and precise plating. The ingredients follow the temple. The craft follows the omakase counter.
FIVE COLOURS
Red, green, yellow, black and white on every tray.
FIVE FLAVOURS
Sweet · sour · salty · bitter · umami
FIVE METHODS
Raw · steamed · simmered · grilled · braised
If you're a skeptical non-vegan, good. If you keep a Buddhist vegetarian diet, this menu was built with you in mind.
THE FOUNDATION
The Foundation: 72-Hour Dashi
Every great omakase begins with dashi. In a traditional sushi-ya, that means kombu and katsuobushi—kelp and shaved bonito flakes. It's the backbone of Japanese cuisine. It's also, obviously, not plant-based.
72
HOURS, AT A CONTROLLED TEMPERATURE
When we started developing the Wakamama menu, the dashi was the first problem we needed to solve. Not because we wanted to make a "vegan version" of something. But because a tasting menu without a proper dashi is like a building without a foundation. It doesn't matter how beautiful the upper floors are—the whole thing collapses.
Classic shojin dashi is kombu and shiitake. Here's how we take it further:
We start with three varieties of kombu—Rishiri, Ma, and Rausu—each contributing a different layer of umami. To that, we add dried shiitake that have been aged for six months to concentrate their guanylate content (that's the compound responsible for deep, meaty savoriness). Then we introduce roasted and dried vegetables—burdock root, daikon and figs, and let the entire mixture steep at a controlled temperature for 72 hours.
The result is a broth that has the clarity of a traditional ichiban dashi but a depth that surprises even me. It's smoky. It's oceanic. It coats your mouth with the same satisfying weight as a good tonkotsu.
When non-vegans ask me what the "secret" is, we tell them the truth: time. Time is the ingredient most restaurants can't afford. We can, because we only seat 16 guests per night and we prepare for days in advance
WAKAMAMA FERMENTATION
Wakamama Fermentation: The Umami Engine
If dashi is the foundation, fermentation is the engine that drives flavor in this kitchen. This is where the non-vegan skeptic usually starts to lean forward.
Shio Koji
3 WEEKS
koji fermented with sea salt for 3 weeks
Rich, sweet and fragrance of a mild cheese
Shoyu Koji
3 WEEKS
koji fermented with tamari for 3 weeks
Rich, caramelized, almost chocolatey
Chili Yuzu Kosho
2 WEEKS
Yuzu zest, green chili, salt, aged 2 weeks
Bright, funky, spicy, citrus-forward
Chickpea Miso
3 MONTHS
Chickpea ferment with koji for 3 months
Creamy, savory, reminiscent of aged cheese
Koji Cured Carrot
1 WEEK
Inoculated with Aspergillus oryzae, aged 1 week
Deep umami, subtle sweetness, faint nuttiness
Pickled Vegetables
WEEKLY
Rice bran (nukazuke) fermentation, rotated weekly
Tangy, complex, probiotic rich and addictive
Fermentation is not a "vegan thing." It's a human thing. It's how we make miso, soy sauce, sake, kimchi, sourdough, cheese, charcuterie, and yes—the funky, complex flavors that make Japanese cuisine so compelling.
That's not a "vegan trick." That's fermentation science, the same science that gives Parmigiano-Reggiano its crystals and miso its soul. Miso and shoyu, both koji ferments, have seasoned Japanese temple kitchens for centuries.
When we place a piece of koji-cured beet nigiri on your plate, you're tasting five days of enzymatic activity. The Aspergillus oryzae has broken down the beet's starches into simple sugars and amino acids. The result is a piece of nigiri that has the mouthfeel of lean tuna, the sweetness of a roasted root vegetable, and an umami depth that makes you stop mid-conversation.
THE SMOKE AND FIRE
The Smoke and Fire: Why We Torch, Char, and Sear
Carnivores love fire. There's a primal satisfaction in a charred crust, a smoky aroma, a blistered surface. We understand this viscerally.
Fire does two things that no other technique can replicate:
Maillard Reaction
Smoke Penetration
The browning of proteins and sugars that creates hundreds of new flavor compounds. This is why a seared steak tastes different from a boiled one. We apply this to vegetables with the same intention.
Cherry wood, apple wood, and occasionally Japanese sakura chips. We cold-smoke beets. We hot-smoked tomatoes.
The miso-glazed eggplant course that non-vegans consistently rave about? It spends 25mins under heat. The miso caramelizes into a cream crust. The interior steams in its own moisture. The aroma that hits your table is indistinguishable from the grilled black cod course at a traditional sushi-ya.
That's intentional. Not because we are trying to "fool" you. Because fire is a universal language, and We are fluent in it.
FOR NON-VEGANS AND TEMPLE-FOOD REGULARS
“I forgot I wasn’t eating fish.”
THE FEEDBACK WE HEAR MOST
If you take one thing away from this, let it be this:
Wakamama isn't only for vegans, and it isn't only for the devout. It's for anyone who cares what they eat.
The fact that everything on the standard menu happens to be plant-based is almost incidental. What matters is the dashi that took three days. The koji that took five. The plating that took years of repetition to execute without thinking.
We have served this menu to many chefs, to sushi purists, to self-described carnivores who walked in with their arms crossed and walked out planning their next reservation. The feedback is remarkably consistent: "I forgot I wasn't eating fish."
That's the highest compliment I can receive. Not because we are trying to erase the difference between plants and animals. But because we are trying to prove that technique transcends ingredient.
AN INVITATION
Bring your skepticism. Bring an appetite.
Seats are limited. The menu changes with the micro-seasons. The fermentation crocks are always full, and the dashi is always simmering.
If you're curious about what Japanese fine dining looks like when you strip away the seafood but keep every ounce of the craft, we will be at the counter.
If you're still skeptical, good. Bring your skepticism. Bring your questions. Bring your carnivore friends.
Just bring an appetite.
Located in Singapore Pasir Panjang, Wakamama is a vegan omakase restaurant in Singapore’s west, serving diners from areas like Kent Ridge, HarbourFront, and Buona Vista.