Ippoh Tempura Bar at COMO Dempsey: Osaka Tempura Restaurant With 1850 Roots

Ippoh Tempura Bar charges extra for condiments, a line printed at the bottom of every page of its 2026 menu, and that small surprise is worth knowing before you sit down. The restaurant is at 17C Dempsey Road, Singapore 249676, inside the COMO Dempsey cluster, and lunch sets start at S$98 for Momiji. It is the only Singapore outpost of Ippoh, which calls itself Osaka's oldest premium tempura restaurant, making it a distinctive pick for anyone searching for a tempura restaurant near Tanglin.

Ippoh traces its kitchen rules to 1850 in Osaka, and the menu's opening page describes light, crisp and delicately battered Osaka-style tempura that follows those strict traditions. The Singapore restaurant carries the full name Ippoh Tempura Bar by Ginza Ippoh, and the menus still print the brand's brushstroke logo above the title. Masaru Seki, a fifth-generation tempura specialist from the founding family, oversees the kitchen.

Day-to-day cooking falls to executive chef Ayame Utsumi, according to COMO Epicurean's restaurant page. The Singapore branch first opened in late 2016, when Honeycombers reported that the legendary bar had just opened its doors on Dempsey Hill, at Block 17B. It now trades from 17C Dempsey Road within the COMO Dempsey row of restaurants. That reporting stressed the open concept, where diners at the bar watch every piece fried individually.

Lunch offers two named sets. Momiji at S$98 starts with sesame tofu, then nine pieces of tempura covering two prawns, two seafood pieces, four vegetables and the house shrimp toast. Kakiage follows, served with cold somen noodles or a choice of tencha, tendon or a rice set, and ice cream ends the meal. Ume at S$135 adds an assorted appetiser and a trio of chef's specials, plus eleven pieces including sea urchin tempura with caviar.

Dinner moves up a level. Tsuki at S$160 brings sesame tofu with sea urchin, appetisers and ten pieces of tempura built around three live prawns. Yuki at S$240 adds assorted sashimi flown from Japan, sea urchin tempura with caviar, and a soft-boiled egg tempura rice bowl finished with shaved truffle and miso soup. Every set carries a seasonal catch supplement of S$12 per extra seafood piece and S$6 per extra vegetable, and all prices attract 10% service charge plus GST.

Live shrimp is the piece Ippoh is known for, and the à la carte page prices it at S$18, the same as the version wrapped in a shiso leaf. Shrimp toast costs S$14 and appears in every set, a crunchy square that tastes nothing like the dim sum version. Kisu and managatsuo, the silver pomfret, both cost S$20 a piece, while anago eel and squid are S$14 each.

Sea urchin tempura with caviar is the splurge at S$40 a piece. The seasonal list this autumn includes manganji sweet pepper from Kyoto for S$12, Hokkaido sweet corn for S$14 and tachiuo beltfish from Toyama for S$22. Specials run from raclette cheese with kinome leaf at S$15 to a sea urchin tasting plate at S$65, served flame-seared, with seaweed paste and with yuzu pepper.

Ordering à la carte comes with a minimum spend of S$80 per person at lunch and S$125 at dinner. That sounds flexible, but the numbers favour the sets. Vegetables cost S$10 each, so asparagus, lotus root, pumpkin, eggplant and onion together already reach S$50 before any seafood. A tencha or tendon bowl adds S$25, and rice, miso soup or ice cream are S$6 each.

The smartest move for a first visit is Momiji, then a single extra piece of whatever seasonal fish the chef recommends. The per-piece list works best for top-ups rather than for a whole meal. The black truffle add-on, three grams for S$22, is the one extra worth skipping, because the truffle rice in Yuki already covers that flavour, and the batter here is subtle enough to get buried.

Tenbara is the weekday set lunch at S$58++, and it is easy to misread. The menu states it is only available from 12pm to 2pm at the Blue Lounge, not at the tempura bar. You get salad, sesame tofu, and a rice bowl topped with two prawns, two asparagus spears, sweet potato, shiitake and a hanjuku egg, plus miso soup, ice cream and green tea.

It is good value, but skip it if the reason you came was to watch the chef fry. Book Momiji at the bar instead. HSBC Premier cardholders have a better deal through 31 December 2026: a 1-for-1 weekday set lunch or dinner on the S$98 Momiji and S$160 Tsuki menus, booked at least 24 hours ahead. Public holidays and Christmas and New Year eves are excluded.

Reservations go through SevenRooms, linked from the COMO Epicurean page. Lunch runs daily from 12pm to 3pm with a 2pm last seating. Dinner is 6pm to 10pm from Sunday to Thursday, with last seating at 9pm, and stretches to 11pm on Friday, Saturday and the eve of public holidays. Weekday lunches are the easiest slot.

If the bar is full, you are on the right street for alternatives. Candlenut, which calls itself the world's first Michelin-starred Peranakan restaurant, sits a few steps away in the same COMO Dempsey row at Dempsey Road. For tempura specifically, Tentsuru at The St. Regis on Tanglin Road is a short taxi ride back toward Orchard and books through TableCheck.

Dempsey is a hillside of low colonial-era blocks, and COMO Dempsey occupies several of them in a row. The Dempsey Cookhouse and Bar, Jean-Georges Vongerichten's restaurant, shares the cluster, and Culina Bistro, which COMO describes as market-fresh French classics with fine wine, is a short stroll away. Arrive twenty minutes early to wander the row before lunch, then take your time with the tencha.

From here, the Singapore Botanic Gardens are a short ride away via Holland Road, which makes a morning walk under the trees followed by a noon booking an easy pairing. There is no MRT station on the hill itself. Most diners arrive by taxi or private car, so plan transport home before the second carafe of sake, and book the car before the last course arrives so you are not waiting outside.

Ippoh Tempura Bar by Ginza Ippoh is at 17C Dempsey Road, Singapore 249676. Lunch is served daily from 12pm to 3pm, and dinner from 6pm with a 10pm or 11pm close depending on the day. Book through SevenRooms. Remember that condiments are charged separately, à la carte has a minimum spend, and the S$58++ Tenbara set is served in the Blue Lounge, not at the bar.