Ryu Japanese Restaurant

Prepare to have your preconceptions of large, chain Japanese ‘restaurants’ with their largely deep fried, stale, generic food wiped from your memory as you step into Ryu.
It’s a small, dingy (cosy, if it’s not a full house), hole-​in-​a-​wall in Orchard Plaza (above the various KTV lounges and Filipino hostesses), with a very much Japanese chef (who behaves like an extremely culinary-​talented dad at home), and his Singaporean ‘translator’/co-owner of the place who helps speak to the chef and to get orders.
Brought my mum here for my birthday dinner-​bash (just us two), and boy did we have a great time! My mum was a sucker for fermented soy beans — and the ‘chef’ was so delighted to hear from the host that she likes those — he whipped out a pre-​prepared portion, kicked it up a notch, and my mum was extremely pleased.
We were asking for recommendations (after having their tofu, yellowtail, miso dishes, kurobuta pork (YUM!)) and the chef got us a small plate of fresh sashimi (about $ 58!) which was the best we’ve ever had out of Japan. The price IS definitely to gawk at, but it was my birthday and my mum was getting it… so…
If you’re tired of Genki/​Sakae/​Ichiban Boshi or other places, here’s a place you should go to. Be sure to be on time and make a reservation — because they rarely do walk-​ins!