On the sixth floor of Cuppage Plaza, just off Orchard Road, a small door opens onto a quieter world. Eight seats. One counter. A single evening, shaped course by course.
This is Sushi Masa by Ki-Setsu, found at 5 Koek Road, #06-03. And at its centre stands Chef Masa.
In a restaurant this small, the chef is not one part of the experience. He is the experience. Every evening at Sushi Masa begins and ends with him.
The Evening Starts Before You Arrive
Long before the first guest is seated, the shape of the night is already forming. Ingredients arrive from Japan, chosen for their season and their moment. What is good today may not be right tomorrow. Chef Masa reads each one. Its texture, its scent, its readiness.
This is where the evening truly begins. Preparation is not a task hidden away in the back. It is the foundation of trust.
At Sushi Masa, nothing is placed before you by accident. Each piece has been considered. Each has a reason to be there. The care Chef Masa gives to preparation is the care you taste later, in stillness, at the counter.
Read: How Ingredient Sourcing Defines the Best Japanese Restaurant in Singapore
Guiding the Flow, Course by Course
Omakase means you leave the choosing to the chef. At Sushi Masa by Ki-setsu, that choice belongs to Chef Masa alone.
He does not follow a fixed script. Instead, he guides the meal like a conversation, one that moves with intention. A clean, cool slice of sashimi might open the evening. Then something warm. Then a piece of nigiri, pressed and placed with quiet precision.
The order matters. So does the pause between each course.
Chef Masa shapes this flow so that no single moment feels rushed or repeated. One taste leads naturally to the next. Cool to warm. Light to rich. The journey unfolds the way a good story does, with rhythm, with breath, with purpose.
This is the heart of the omakase at Sushi Masa: a sequence that only makes sense in the hands of the chef who built it.
Reading the Counter
With eight seats, nothing escapes the chef’s attention. Chef Masa can see each guest. He notices the pace of your eating, the way you hold a piece, the small signs of what you enjoy.
This closeness changes everything.
In a larger room, a chef works at a distance. Here, at Sushi Masa, Chef Masa works right in front of you. He reads the counter the way a conductor reads a room. Sensing when to slow down, when to move forward, when to let a moment settle.
You are not one of many tables. You are one of eight guests, seated where the chef can meet your eye. That presence, quiet and constant, shapes how the whole evening feels.
The Quiet Control of Timing
Timing is one of the most delicate parts of any omakase. A piece served too early loses its moment. Served too late, it loses its warmth, its edge, its intention.
Chef Masa holds this timing with care.
Rice is at its right temperature when it reaches you. Fish is prepared so it meets your hand at its peak. Nothing waits too long. Nothing arrives before you are ready.
This control is invisible when it works well. You simply feel that each course comes at the right moment, unhurried, yet never slow. That balance is the mark of a chef who has spent years listening to the rhythm of an evening.
Holding the Rhythm of the Night
An evening at Sushi Masa has its own pace. It begins with a settling of the senses, moves through a series of considered tastes, and ends with a final impression that lingers.
Chef Masa holds this rhythm from start to finish.
The first course sets the tone. The last one closes it. And everything in between is guided by the same steady hand. In a chef-led room this intimate, that hand touches every part of the experience: the flavour, the flow, the feeling of the space itself.
You do not simply eat here. You follow a rhythm the chef has set, one built on trust and quiet confidence.
Why the Chef Matters Most
Some restaurants are shaped by their rooms. Sushi Masa is shaped by its chef.
Remove Chef Masa, and the evening changes entirely. The sequence, the timing, the reading of each guest. All of it flows from him. This is what makes a small, chef-led restaurant different. There is nowhere for the craft to hide, and no need for it to.
To learn more about Chef Masa is to understand the restaurant itself. The two cannot be separated. His presence is the throughline of every evening, from the first taste to the final, lingering impression.
At Sushi Masa by Ki-Setsu, you don’t choose the menu.
You choose to trust the chef who shapes it.
