Japanese Chef Of Popular Italian Fine-Diner In Tokyo Opens Affordable Pasta Bar In S’pore, Dishes From $13.80
Another popular Japanese F&B concept will make its debut in Singapore. A casual offshoot of Italian restaurant sio Aoyama in Tokyo opens at basement 1 of Raffles City Shopping Centre on March 26.
Called sio pasta, the concept serves fresh, handcrafted pasta from $13.80, made using the same recipes and techniques as its Japan outlet. The launch marks the brand’s first venture outside Japan.
The restaurant is launched here in collaboration with J.A.P Dining Concepts, the franchise owner behind popular sushi concept Sushidan, Pizza Studio Tamaki (PST) and Yappari Steak in Singapore.
Behind sio is renowned Japanese chef Shusaku Toba, 48, whose restaurants, including former one Michelin-starred French restaurant sio, have been featured in the Michelin Guide Tokyo for six consecutive years since 2020.
While sio Aoyama in Tokyo offers a more refined dining experience with prices averaging $180 for dinner, sio pasta in Singapore adapts the same philosophy into a more accessible, everyday setting.
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From J-League football trainee to chef
Chef Toba’s path into F&B wasn’t exactly conventional.
Before entering the culinary world, he was a trainee in a J-League football programme and later worked as an elementary school teacher. He only began professional culinary training at the age of 31 — relatively late in an industry where many chefs start in their teens.
He went on to hone his craft at respected Tokyo fine-dining establishments including DIRITTO, Florilège and Aria di Tacubo before acquiring the restaurant Gris and eventually opening sio in 2018.
The sio group currently manages eight concepts in Japan. These include sio, French-Japanese fusion restaurant o/sio, and modern Osaka izakaya The New World.
Bringing “elevated everyday dining” to Singapore
Instead of launching the fancier sio concept in Singapore, the team chose to introduce a more casual offshoot first.
According to J.A.P Dining Concepts, the aim is to focus on what it calls “elevated everyday dining”, making high-quality, chef-driven cuisine more accessible to diners.
Japan-trained team in Singapore
Chef Toba and his Japan team were closely involved in setting up the Singapore outlet.
The kitchen here is led by a Malaysian Singapore PR head chef who underwent a month of intensive training in Japan directly under chef Toba. Following that, the Japan team conducted an additional three weeks of on-site training in Singapore for the broader kitchen team.
Chef Toba will not be in Singapore for the opening, but he remains involved in the restaurant’s creative direction and will visit the outlet every two months for the first year.
Plans for another outlet in Q3
Beyond the food, the 28-seater sio pasta also draws inspiration from sio Aoyama’s design palette, featuring warm wood tones and signature blue tiles.
Besides regular and communal tables, there’s also counter seating, where guests can observe the chefs at work.
Expansion plans are already underway. A second sio pasta outlet, approximately twice the size of the first, is slated to open in the central part of Singapore in the third quarter of 2026.
No reservations are allowed at this first come, first served casual eatery.
Pasta from $13.80
The menu comprises 11 pasta dishes: eight Japanese-inspired pastas, two Italian classics, and one monthly special, all served with fresh, handcrafted pasta made with 100% Italian semolina flour.
Prices range from a wallet-friendly $13.80 for Japanese Garlic Carbonara and Fried Egg, Cheese, Salted Kelp pasta (pictured above), to $16.80 for Pancetta Tomato Mozzarella, while sides like focaccia, salads, Japanese-style fried chicken start from $3.80. There will also be seasonal rotational dishes refreshed every three months.
For its opening month, the spotlight is on the Mentaiko Pasta ($16.80). The dish features fresh pasta coated in mentaiko cream sauce, spring onion, shredded nori, shiso leaf, finished with a scoop of fresh mentaiko (spicy cod roe).
According to the brand, recipes and menus remain closely aligned with those in Japan, though ingredients are sourced locally through established suppliers, many of whom import directly from Japan or Europe.
Here are some of the other dishes you can expect:
Mentaiko Cream Carbonara, $16.80
sio pasta opens on Mar 26 at #B1-16 Raffles City Shopping Centre, 252 North Bridge Rd, S179103. Open daily 11.30am – 10pm. More info via Instagram.
Photos: sio pasta, sio Tokyo
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