Charcoal Grill Shinpachi opened on 15 August 2026 at NEX Basement 1, unit #B1-80A, as the first shop outside Japan for Shinpachi Shokudo. RE&S runs it. The chain has more than 100 outlets at home, built around charcoal-grilled fish teishoku for lunch-hour workers in Tokyo. Serangoon gets the same idea at mall speed: cooked to order, rice, miso, pickles, sets from $8.90. The opening-weekend $8.80 deal on three signatures is over. What remains in September is the grill, the menu, and a NEXrewards bonus if this is your first qualifying spend of the month.
What the two-layer grill is for
Hee Mei Leng, RE&S executive vice president for QSR, told QSR Media that Singapore was the test bed for taking Shinpachi overseas because the city already eats a lot of Japanese food. The hardware is a custom two-layer charcoal grill. Fish steams through on the first level, then hits high heat on the second so the skin crisps without drying the flesh. 8world notes you can watch that pass through the glass. Four kitchen leads trained in Japan on a course that usually takes about a month. They did it in two weeks and passed the assessment, Hee said. Chef Mizayawa Kosuke also flew in to drill the team, according to 8days Eat.
This is not omakase. It is a teishoku line in a basement next to other Japanese counters. Expect lunch traffic from the offices above Serangoon Central and dinner families who do not want to go into town for grilled fish. It is not halal-certified. Eatbook flagged that before opening. If you need pork-free Japanese nearby, this is the wrong unit.
The sets worth ordering first
AsiaOne and Eatbook both put three plates at the top of the list. Saba Bunka Boshi is Japanese Pacific mackerel, salted and cold-air dried, served with grated radish and shoyu, $15.90. Hokke Set Half is Atka mackerel, $11.90, the one Eatbook describes as flaky inside with a crisp skin. Salmon Harasu is salmon belly, $18.90. 8world also lists a Three Sardines set at $8.80, the cheapest way to see if you like the grill before you pay for belly.
Instagram diners after opening weekend kept mentioning grilled beef tongue with a Singapore-only sambal, and chicken shoga yaki mixed with mayonnaise. Those are not the Japan lunch-hour staples. They are the local extras. A $5 beer shows up in the same posts. Sets come with rice, miso, and pickles. If you only have 40 minutes, order at the counter, watch the fish hit the second layer, and eat at the wood-look tables facing the mall corridor.
September bonus points, then the regular bill
NEX's NEXclusive Bonus for 1 to 30 September 2026 pays 500 bonus NEXpoints on your first $50 spend of the month at Shinpachi, if you scan the member QR. Same month, Chin Mee Chin, Lizoo, and Comvita pay 300 points on a first $30 spend. Daily cap of 500 basic NEXpoints still applies. The opening 50 percent off on saba, hokke, and harasu ran 15 and 16 August only. Do not walk in expecting $8.80 signatures in September.
Hours are 11am to 10pm daily. The unit is on Basement 1, a short walk from the Serangoon MRT unpaid link. If you already come to NEX for Oriental Kopi or the Mid-Autumn fair upstairs, this is the basement stop that actually opened, rather than another hoarding. For festival hours and the atrium trail, use the Moonlit Wonders event page.
Practical Details
- Dates: Opened 15 August 2026. Ongoing. NEXclusive Bonus 1 to 30 September 2026.
- Time: 11am to 10pm daily.
- Venue: Charcoal Grill Shinpachi, #B1-80A, NEX, 23 Serangoon Central, Singapore 556083.
- Nearest MRT: Serangoon, North East and Circle Lines.
- Price: Sets from $8.90. Three Sardines about $8.80. Hokke Half $11.90. Saba Bunka Boshi $15.90. Salmon Harasu $18.90. 500 bonus NEXpoints on first $50 spend in September.
- Website: NEX NEXclusive Bonus, September 2026
