Taking over the space of Merchants Wine Store & Cellar, RAPPU at Duxton positions itself as Singapore’s OG handroll bar. The latest offering by The Feather Blade group, RAPPU takes pride in serving diners “proper seaweed, sushi rice and quality seafood ingredients, in a big-ass venue with kick-ass tunes”. With an introduction like this, this is certainly not your traditional sushi bar setup.

Handroll set of 6 (clockwise): Toro, amberjack, engawa (flounder), crab

You may order a la carte but the set meal ($36) offers a better deal. The set comprises of 6 handrolls with familiar toppings such as hotate (scallop), toro (fatty tuna), and salmon. Handrolls here are formed into cigars, making eating easier as compared to cone-shaped temaki.

The hotate handroll is memorable. The soft scallops, lightly brushed with nikiri sauce (sweet soy sauce), complement well with the warm vinegared sushi rice.

Handroll set of 6 (clockwise): Salmon and hotate scallop

Another filling that stood out is the crab handroll. RAPPU uses pacific red rock crab with snow crab kani miso, topped with tobiko. It tastes rather funky due to the fermented miso but it grows on you.

The highlight of our meal is engawa (flounder). This luscious, rich-tasting fish has been torched and sprinkled with smoked salt and yuzu nikiri.

High roller: Toro

They also have premium ingredients. For the high roller ($28), you can choose either wagyu beef or toro, topped with uni, ikura, caviar and gold flakes. The beef is rather tough. The toro is decent but somehow I don’t feel that it warrants the price tag.

High roller: Wagyu

Along with the rolls, RAPPU offers a decent selection of sake and Japanese-inspired cocktails such as umami old fashioned ($16), ginzu ($14) and highball ($11). To go with your handrolls, you may try sake pairing ($18 for 6 shooters). The Kawatsuru sake stands out as the sweet and sour notes complement the engawa handroll.

Sake pairing: 6 sake for 6 handrolls

The bar snacks deserve a mention – ei hire (stingray with nori mayo), kawa ebi (deep fried shrimps with togarashi mayo) and nankotsu (chicken cartilage with yuzu mayo).

Bar snacks: Ei hire (stingray with nori mayo) and kawa ebi

The stingray is cured in-house with sugar. The texture is especially addictive as it is similar to beef jerky, chewy and moreish.

The nankotsu is a crunchy cartilage reminiscent of popcorn chicken.

Bar snacks – gyudon bomb and Nankotsu (chicken cartilage)

The gyudon bomb consists of poached quail egg with tender wagyu beef, garlic chips and shichimi togarashi which lends a spicy umami kick. Literally an explosion of flavours when you bite into the runny egg yolk.

Cocktails: Ginzu and umami old fashioned

All in all, RAPPU will be a good place to unwind with friends after work for some nibbles and tipples.

Food: 6/10
Decor/ambience: 7/10
Price/value: 6/10

You may be interested in…
–Koji Sushi Bar 米花, China Square Central: Decent Japanese at Affordable Prices
–The Sushi Bar, Far East Plaza
–Kappou Japanese Sushi Tapas Bar, Fortune Centre: 23 Year-Old Female Chef Serves Excellent Modern Japanese Food
–Kinki Restaurant & Bar, Customs House

This is an invited tasting. Written by Vanessa Khong. Vanessa is someone who enjoys checking out the local food scene. She believes the way to her heart is through her stomach.