If you thought there was only so much you could do with unagi, Unagi Yondaime Kikukawa has a new answer, and it comes in the form of a tower. The Nagoya-born unagi specialist is opening its second Singapore restaurant at Raffles City Singapore on 1 October 2026, following the arrival of its first local outlet at Shaw Centre in April 2025. To mark the opening, the MICHELIN Selected restaurant is introducing the Unagi Mountain, an indulgent new creation featuring two whole kabayaki eels stacked over warm rice in a dramatic tower-like presentation.

Priced at $88++, the limited-time dish is exclusive to the Raffles City outlet and will be available throughout October. Designed as a centrepiece for sharing, it takes the restaurant’s signature ingredient and turns the traditional unagi rice bowl into something considerably more theatrical. But beneath the spectacle is a restaurant built on a much older story, one that stretches back more than 90 years to a family-run Japanese eel wholesaler.

Unagi Yondaime Kikukawa traces its origins to Nakasho Shoten, an unagi wholesaler founded in Nagoya in 1932. The restaurant brand was established in 2017 by fourth-generation owner Kikukawa Yuhei, drawing on generations of expertise in sourcing and preparing live eel.

Today, the brand has grown to 50 restaurants worldwide, with its Raffles City opening marking its 50th global outlet. Two more locations are also set to open in Japan before the end of 2026. The Singapore expansion is being undertaken in partnership with Les Amis Group, making the Raffles City restaurant the group’s third dining concept at the mall. It joins NamNam, its modern Vietnamese street food concept, and Mui Kee, the Hong Kong-born Cantonese congee specialist.

The new 84-seat restaurant is positioned as a setting for everything from business lunches to relaxed dinners, but the focus remains firmly on the eel.

Alongside the Unagi Mountain, the Raffles City menu brings back two of the brand’s established preparations. The Kabayaki Ippon Jyu Set ($48++) presents a whole premium eel, butterflied and grilled over binchotan charcoal. The intense heat creates a crisp exterior while keeping the flesh soft and juicy, drawing out the eel’s natural umami and sweetness. The dish is served in handcrafted Minoyaki tableware from Gifu Prefecture, adding another layer of Japanese craftsmanship to the presentation.

Then there is the Hitsumabushi Set ($37++), a Nagoya speciality that turns one bowl into three different experiences. The fragrant grilled unagi and rice can first be enjoyed on their own, before diners add condiments such as wasabi, seaweed and spring onion. The final portion is finished with dashi broth, transforming the dish into ochazuke. Each preparation brings out a different side of the eel, moving from rich and smoky to brighter and more delicate.

For Unagi Yondaime Kikukawa, the quality of the final dish starts long before the grill. With 94 years of experience as an unagi supplier, the brand draws on generations of knowledge to select live eels according to qualities including size, thickness and suitability for kabayaki.

Each eel is prepared and grilled to order over binchotan charcoal. The high heat gives the skin its characteristic lightly crisp finish while keeping the meat tender and succulent. It is then brushed with the restaurant’s house tare sauce, a closely guarded recipe passed down through generations.

The rice is treated with similar attention. The restaurant uses Koshihikari rice from Uonuma in Niigata Prefecture, a mountainous region known for producing some of Japan’s most prized rice. Its natural sweetness and aroma provide a gentle counterpoint to the richer, smoky character of the grilled eel. It is a combination that explains why the restaurant’s menu remains relatively focused: when the central ingredient is treated with this much attention, there is little need to disguise it.

The arrival at Raffles City gives Unagi Yondaime Kikukawa a second home in Singapore while placing it alongside two other Les Amis Group concepts with strong regional identities. Together, NamNam, Mui Kee and Unagi Yondaime Kikukawa give the mall a dining line-up that spans Vietnamese, Cantonese and Japanese traditions, each built around a distinctive culinary speciality.

For the unagi specialist, meanwhile, the new restaurant marks another milestone in a rapid international expansion — but the philosophy remains rooted in the same place it began. From a wholesaler founded in Nagoya in 1932 to a 50-outlet restaurant group, Unagi Yondaime Kikukawa’s story has always been about knowing the ingredient before it reaches the plate. At Raffles City, that story arrives in a new format, with a towering new way to share it.

Unagi Yondaime Kikukawa at Raffles City Singapore
252 North Bridge Road, #B1-75
Singapore 179103

Open daily, 11.30am–10pm
Last order: 9pm
Tel: +65 8998 3687

Unagi Mountain: $88++
Available exclusively at Raffles City Singapore from 1–31 October 2026.