Best Japanese restaurants in Bali: omakase to izakaya

The best Japanese restaurants in Bali depend on the style you want. For omakase, Miss Fish in Berawa serves a seasonal chef's-choice tasting at its onyx counter. For an izakaya, Izakaya by OKU at The Apurva Kempinski in Nusa Dua does sake and small plates at an open-kitchen counter. For teppanyaki, NAMI at the same resort cooks on the griddle in front of you. For a yakiniku-style grill at the table, Aged & Butchered in Berawa. FirstBali books all four through the concierge.

Four styles, four different evenings

• Omakase means leaving the choice to the chef: no menu, a sequence of courses served one by one, often at a counter.
• An izakaya is a Japanese pub-restaurant: small plates to share, made to go with sake and conversation.
• Teppanyaki is cooking on a flat iron griddle, with the chef working in front of the guests.
• Yakiniku is meat grilled at the table, piece by piece.

Choose the style first. An omakase is a dinner you sit through with attention; an izakaya is an easy evening with friends; teppanyaki is a show at the table; yakiniku is about the meat.

Omakase: Miss Fish, Berawa

Miss Fish, on Jalan Raya Semat, describes itself as a fusion of "Japanese precision" and Bali's after-dark energy. Executive Chef Carlos Barvo's kitchen pairs Japanese technique with European and Latin American influences.

The omakase is served at the onyx chef's bar, the seat the restaurant recommends for it. Its own line is "No menu. Just trust." The chefs present and explain each course, starting light — sashimi, delicate nigiri — and moving towards richer, warm dishes, with robata-grilled plates along the way, and the menu changes with the seasons. Newcomers to omakase are guided, and the team adjusts for preferences where it can, provided you share dietary needs in advance. The bar holds more than forty labels of sake and Japanese whisky, and the team suggests sake or whisky pairings.

If the counter is full, the Patio and the Lounge serve the same kitchen with cocktails and shared plates; later in the evening, DJs take over. Everything else is in the Miss Fish guide.

Miss Fish

Restaurants · Berawa

Miss Fish is a Japanese restaurant and late-night venue on Jalan Raya Semat in Berawa, Canggu, open since 2022. Executive Chef Carlos Barvo leads a seasonal omakase that pairs Japanese technique with European and Latin American influences. Guests choose between the Omakase Bar, a chef-guided onyx counter, the open-air Patio and the Lounge for cocktails and shared plates, and the bar holds more than 40 sakes and Japanese whiskies. Later in the evening, DJs take over. Dress code: smart casual.

Izakaya and teppanyaki: The Apurva Kempinski, Nusa Dua

The Apurva Kempinski, on the cliffs of Nusa Dua, has two Japanese restaurants, and you do not need to stay at the resort to book them.

Izakaya by OKU is inspired by OKU, the Japanese restaurant in Jakarta. The setting is bistro-chic and convivial, with an open kitchen where guests and chefs talk; the hotel suggests "a relaxed evening of sake and small plates at the open kitchen counter". Casual dress.

NAMI Teppanyaki — nami means "wave" in Japanese — is built around five, a lucky number in Japan. At the private table, the signature Namikase is a set menu with an element of surprise; the main dining room serves a set selection and has a kids' menu. The drinks are handled by a sake sommelier and a tea master who makes cocktails and mocktails, and there is a traditional matcha ceremony. Casual dress.

The resort's other tables, from the aquarium room at Koral to hot pot at Bai Yun, are in our Apurva Kempinski guide.

The Apurva Kempinski

Restaurants · Nusa Dua

The Apurva Kempinski Bali is a five-star resort on the cliffs of Nusa Dua, facing the Indian Ocean, and its dining spreads across several venues. Koral, which the hotel presents as Bali's first aquarium restaurant, serves set and tasting menus beside the tanks, adults only at dinner. Izakaya by OKU is a sister to OKU in Jakarta; Reef Beach Club sits on the sand beside a 42-metre infinity pool; Bai Yun serves hot pot and dim sum; L'Atelier by Cyril Kongo is a lounge with ocean views and Mediterranean tapas.

Yakiniku-style grills: Aged & Butchered, Berawa

Aged & Butchered is a dry-aged steakhouse first, not a Japanese restaurant. But its room has Japanese yakiniku-style grills at the table, where the chefs cook in front of the guests, and a sake fountain beside a long wine collection. For a group that wants serious meat with a Japanese way of serving it, it is the address. More in the Aged & Butchered guide.

Aged & Butchered

Restaurants · Berawa

Aged & Butchered Bali is the island branch of the Jakarta dry-aged steakhouse of the same name, run by MDA Restaurants inside The Komu hotel in Berawa. The draw is its meat library of dry-aged cuts, grilled over coffee-wood charcoal, with Japanese yakiniku-style grills at the table where the chefs cook in front of guests. The moody, stylish room adds a sake fountain, an extensive wine collection and an outdoor bar area. An address built around the grill, for an evening of serious steak.

Which one for what

• A special dinner for two: the omakase counter at Miss Fish.
• An easy evening with friends: Izakaya by OKU, or Miss Fish's Lounge.
• A family dinner: NAMI Teppanyaki's main dining room, which has a kids' menu.
• A group of meat lovers: the table grills at Aged & Butchered.
• Staying in the south: the Kempinski's two Japanese restaurants are in Nusa Dua; see the Nusa Dua guide.

Dress and booking

Miss Fish asks for smart casual: no sandals, sport or swim shorts, sports jerseys, singlets or bikinis. Izakaya by OKU and NAMI Teppanyaki ask for casual dress.

Counter seats are the scarce thing. Miss Fish limits them and asks for a deposit per guest at dinner; full payment applies to a set menu. The venue sets any deposit and its terms, and we pass them on before you decide. Tell the concierge which style you want, the date, the number of guests and any allergy — raw fish and shellfish matter here more than anywhere. We ask the restaurant on your behalf, and the table is yours once it confirms.

Read next: fine dining in Bali, the best seafood restaurants in Bali and where to eat in Berawa.