Loca Niru - Modern Japanese Restaurant with Private Rooms in Singapore

We tried Loca Niru’s new autumn dinner menu and could really see the thought behind the seasonal ingredients, flavour combinations and sauces. The Modori Katsuo was the standout: smoked bonito with Fourme d’Ambert cream, full of umami with great texture. Gan Modoki had a lovely autumnal feel, while the Samegarei had unbelievably crisp skin and an excellent Nyonya beurre blanc. The desserts were another highlight, especially the refreshing Shine Muscat & Kedondong. The Kuma Ebi was unfortunately disappointing. Our prawn was very firm without much sweetness, the fried coating was dry and hard, and the Garlic Sabayon felt overpowering. Although the Samegarei tasted excellent, our portion was also noticeably thinner and flatter than those served to other tables. The biggest issue was the pacing. A meal expected to take around 2.5 hours eventually lasted 3.5 hours, with several waits of close to 20 minutes between courses. This noticeably interrupted the flow of the experience. There is plenty of creativity and strong technique here, particularly in the sauces and desserts, but the pacing and consistency still need improvement.

Loca Niru, an important relatively new opening in Singapore. Nestled in a newly restored Chinese Teochew heritage mansion, helmed by Japanese Chef Shusuke Kubota, trained in the fine arts of French culinary, showcasing a menu of French Japanese cuisine intertwined with some local South-East Asian ingredients & elements. To the layman it might sound really confusing, yet this is exactly what encapsulates the Singaporean culture. When 3 great culinary cultures collide with such technical finesse (French, Japanese, SEA), we as consumers are in for such a treat. Our meal was sublime, cross cultural ingredients and flavors intertwine as our eyes and palates were being teased constantly. Restraint was also very well managed here. Seemingly simple elegant looking dishes hides a ton of technical skill mastery & balance of flavors. The service was also top notch, our server for the evening was Thai asst manager Honey. Every single component was explained in fine detail with passion, pride and excitement. It was great energy having passionate service (rare in Singapore). What made it even more impressive was that the above mentioned experience, was executed by the stellar team on the first night of the brand new menu. Mind blown. Overall, one can feel every single staff member's passion and drive, which is a subliminal attribute that adds to the consumer's experience. Extreme, and by extreme I meant life changing standout dishes amongst the already strong menu : -Hamachi with plum- The aroma of the different interpretations of plum was intoxicating, paired with a duo texture of hamachi. Just as the dish almost got too sweet, the much needed salty umami caviar pulled it back. Phew -Unagi, wintermelon- Every year we would fly to Nagoya, to our fave 150 odd years old unagi restaurant. This unagi simply blew every eel out of the water. The glass crisp skin gave way to the melting tender flesh. Gosh, it's illegal to be this good. Luckily the dish came with 2 pieces of fi

excellent service, lovely clean interior. unfortunately, food does not live up to the experience. Everything was plated beautifully, but flavours lacked depth and felt bland. If I'm not mistaken, it's by the same group behind Omakase @ Stevens, and I found the food similarly underwhelming. Felt like there was a greater emphasis on presentation and theatrics than on flavour. Only thing I enjoyed was the ayam buah leluak bread 🤣 the veggie dumpling was soo bland, and well you can never go wrong w a5 wagyu beef 🤷🏻‍♀️

Was very impressed by the innovative cuisine.

Every dish was perfect! Would definitely come back!

Was surprised with an evening at Loca Niru by my partner for my birthday and we had such a wonderful experience. Service, to me, plays equally as important a role as the quality of food and the team at Loca Niru have really outdone themselves. We were well taken care of by Lassid from the moment we were seated until the end of our experience while Chef Shusuke and his team went above and beyond delivering such a fine curation that truly brought out the flavours of Spring. Not forgetting the sommelier, Vincent, who recommended a lovely sake pairing that brought the entire dinner together. Truly an unforgettable experience that we would highly recommend to everyone. The price is worth it. Thank you Chef Shusuke, Lassid, Vincent, Jennifer, Hani, and John for such a wonderful evening. We look forward to seeing you all again ❤️.

Loca Niru is a contemporary fine-dining restaurant housed within the restored House of Tan Yeok Nee, blending Japanese sensibilities, French techniques and Southeast Asian flavours. Helmed by Chef Shusuke Kubota, its refined tasting menu creates a dialogue between heritage, craftsmanship and modern gastronomy. Service was warm and friendly, and I particularly enjoyed the local touches such as the buah keluak bread and the ‘nyonya beurre blanc’ which accompanied the lobster tail. Will definitely be back to try the dinner menu!

We had the spring menu, which as said by all the earlier reviews, they were presented beautifully and tasted even more exquisitely, fine is not an overstatement. However, 2 areas I noted warranted the less than 5 stars. 1. The lobster tail was served to me undercooked, inside was raw. This shouldn’t had happened in a fine dining restaurant. The crew were quick to replace it with a fresh serving, however, it marred the experience no less. 2. We ordered sake. It was unexpectedly served in a wine glass, which was like my first encounter ever with sake in a wine glass. We requested for a change to sake cups and the carafe kept cold in the cooler. They obliged. Overall still one of the best fine-dining experiences we’ve had lately.