A well-kept secret among Singapore’s epicureans, Iru Den is a contemporary restaurant hidden in a black and white colonial house along Scotts Road. Helming the kitchen is Chef Javier Low, an unassuming trailblazer in the local food scene who has cut his teeth in the revered Iggy’s since the tender age of 17. Later, he ventured to Kyoto, Japan where he worked at Michelin-starred Cenci for two years, during which he developed his own unique style of cuisine largely influenced by Japanese cuisine and modern European sensibilities.
Now, together with his young team of local chefs, they plate up an inventive multi-course menu (from $188) that celebrates the best seasonal produce from Japan and Taiwan. Highlights include: a comforting steamed egg custard layered with an intensely rich poultry jus with woody Nameko mushrooms; crispy sweetfish (ayu) served with charred spring onion and a moreish vegetable jus; and the flavoursome seafood donabe bejewelled with snow crab and sakura ebi.
Iru Den’s signature, however, is the uni somen that has garnered a cult following for Low. Silk-like strands of wheat noodles are surrounded by a mouthwatering sauce made from uni, fermented wasabi leaves, sake and mirin. It is then topped with more seasonal uni and Taiwanese red prawns to finish. Each slurp brings out rich savoury flavours of the ocean and rounds off faintly sweet.
For imbibers, consider the approachable wine pairing option (from $80, four glasses). General manager Joel Lim, former head sommelier of Park 90 and OUE Restaurants, keeps things light and curious with flights led by discovery. Think classic old world wines, bottles from up-and-coming wine regions, experimental low-intervention sake or even vintages that date back to the 1980s. The cat is now out of the bag.
