Kuriya Dining

I heard that they offer seasonal tasting menu for lunch, with some positive reviews. What I found is that this is at most a multi-course set lunch and no where close to seasonal nor kaiseiki. The quality of the ingredients used shows that Kuriya is no different from any other restaurant trying to offer mediocre/ cheap ingredients to offset lower lunch prices - but there is no value for money at all.
The appetizer of marinated shrimp (they call it sweet shrimp) but it was tough and chewy. The daikon was drenched in a salty dressing. The spicy chicken seemed blanched and there was no spice, no flavor in fact.

Next was the grilled course: baked oyster with grilled pork. The pork was a sliced pork roll but cold and the oyster was baked. What's with the "grill"?

Then they served a tofu with anglefish liver and crab, deep fried in a shitake mushroom sauce. This was ok but the mushroom sauce tasted more like some western restaurant serving vegetarian meat sauce.

Sushi - the rice was rather nice but the fish was not fresh. The color of the tuna is light pink and this is the season of Honmaguro which I found more attractive in the Japanese take out counter in the basement of Great World City.

Finally the last straw came with the dessert. Some cake (looks like it was bought from commercial bakery) came with canned peach, canned pineapple and canned lychee and some dairy product trying to be ice cream. Singapore is a tropical city with abundance of fresh fruits. There is really no reason not to serve fresh fruit (accompaniment) but canned fruit, other than the fact that the kitchen is being sloppy or cheap.

The service is very good, especially the Japanese girls.
I've eaten at many places where the service doesn't do justice to the food, but this is one of the places where the food does not live up to the service.

If you want a standard set lunch with a large selection, this may be for you, but for taste and quality, there are better choices.

Fine dinning locations are not meant for children. When people go out for dinner, they are PAYING for food, service and AMBIENCE. The reason smoking was banned in restaurants was not to save people from killing themselves smoking, it was to ensure OTHERS in the restaurant were not subjected to the annoying habits of others. Noise pollution is no different... there is an entire room of people, and you're being extremely selfish thinking your baby's crying/screams are something everyone else in the restaurant wants to PAY their money to hear. I love kids, just take them to somewhere that caters to children, McDonalds, Sushi Tei, etc. or leave them home if you want to have a truly fine dining ambience.

Again, thank you for restaurants who enforce a very logical policy to preserve the atmosphere most people desire when they go out for a nice meal... peaceful and relaxing.

They shifted positions a couple months ago.

Service and ambience is impeccable. Top grades.
The supervisor was especially top notch in service.

There's this seasonal lunch course, 38$ or 48$. depends on which you choose.
I ate every month. Every time its fabulous.

Kaiseki Sets:

The appetizers for the set always changes, always unique, always exquisite and always fantastic tasting. Full marks hands down.
Very very creative.

Grilled items are always different. Very well done. Perfect mix of ingredients. Unique too. The chef's creation are just great.

Rice items is always sushi for $38, for the 48$ it changes. Sometimes its wild vegetable rice, lobster claypot of something.
This dish is usually quite light in taste. Pleasant. Very appealing.

Soup dishes also change all the time. Typically clear broths. Light, great for prepping tastebuds for the desserts.

Dessert is usually a cake of different flavour with fruits to match. usually tiramisu, chocolate, green tea or cheese cakes.
Sometimes its yoghurts which doesn't taste very sour, and has pleasant sweetness in it. Goes smoothly.



Unagi Don: Top grade unagi with top grade rice. Can't be better.

Execuetive Lunch Set (limited to 20 sets/day).
Offers a huge array of food. Small portions here and there. $50 set. Very filling. All the dishes are cooked really well. But the drwaback is, before you finish them, some of them go cold.



They have an ala carte menu full of other chef creations. Tried some of them. Very very pricey.
Usually chefs who create exquisite dishes screw them up, because its too difficult for the palates to figure out the taste. But this chef does it incredibly well.

Fantastic creations. indescribable.




Overall: Daresay all food are absolutely fantastic.
You can try their many varieties of chef creations from ala carte menu which tastes heavenly but take note they don't come cheap.

My friend's father spent over $500 in a meal. Huge appetite though. Food is seriously addictive.

If your on a little budget, their set menus are of good value.

Table services by the Japanese ladies, Midori and Miki san are a definitely a level higher as compared with the Malaysian lady, Ms. Kinki. [A strange name she used].

1. Butaniku (pork)Belly ordered came less than what we have expected. Score is 6/10. We would prefer the pork belly to be more juicy and we also dun mind if it is more burnt.

2. Wagyu Beef served on the brown leaf with Miso sauce is tasty but we would prefer if the beef is more burnt on the outside.

3. Sashimi Utague ($68) does not comes with Mekajiki. And we have to top up another ($25) for it. But the swordfish is fresh, chunky and sweet. The Toro is also way too small for the $68 plate.

4. Shabu-Shabu is really like high-class Chinese SteamBoat.
Though admittedly, the deef slice is nice and soup is sweet with lots' of vege. I like. Score 8/10

We will try the Omakase next time.
Seems to be better.

This place is discriminatory. They refused to seat my family because we had a baby with us. The manager came out and said it was a company policy that no kids under 6 are allowed!!! A Friday evening after a hard week of work, I was happy that the weekend was here and what better way than to celebrate with a family meal out. These guys refused to let us in! And they are situated in Great World City, Which is a popular family hangout. Simply amazing.
I wish I could tell you the food was wonderful.
But I can't. I'm not allowed in there.
What a wonderful way not to spend the baby bonus cash.

Known for its delectable Japanese cuisine and attentive service, Kuriya didn't disappoint indeed.

The 1st appetiser was the Seaweed Salad ($16++) with 3 different types of seaweed mixed with the usual lettuces and tomatoes. I chose to go without any dressing but there's a choice of Italian, sesame or soy sauce dressing. In retrospect, this was a tad too expensive for an average tasting salad.

Next, the Homemade Kyo-Tofu ($6++) was excellent! Wonderfully soft and delicate, it simply melted in the mouth with a slight nutty soya taste. This made me want to try the famous beancurd in Kyoto itself!

The last appetiser was the Prawn and Scallop ($12++) with some jellyfish on the side. I forgot the sauce served with it but memory told me that the scallop was especially fresh and flavourful.

I usually order soft shell crab in Japanese restaurants since it's one of the few deep-fried items I like. The Soft Shell Crab and Japanese Sweet Potato ($14++) was a hit! A tall tower of meaty crab meat and thick slices of naturally sweet sweet potato, this tempura with a light batter was one of the better ones I've had in a long while.

The Unagi Kabayaki ($20++) was not on the menu as I made a special request for it. You will find it paired with rice in the ala carte menu. As usual, it's hard for me to find any faults with unagi since I just love grilled eel too much. This was as nice as the one from Tetsu and Nanbantei!

My favourite dish of the day was the Steamed Cod Fish with Plum ($26++). This was just beautiful! The oily fish was so fresh and soft while the sourish-sweet plum upped the flavour a notch.

The Tempura on Rice ($24++) had an assortment of tempura such as prawns and mushroom. I tried the prawn which was crunchy and of a good quality. However, the batter was too thick unlike the one coating the soft shell crab mentioned earlier on.

Since I was still craving for anything black sesame, I decided on the Soft Sesame Pudding ($8++) right away. Even though this was imported from Japan, it was too jelly-like and lacked a strong sesame taste. I like the one from Sun with Moon!

Another dessert to satisfy my sesame craving was the Sesame Ice Cream and Red Bean ($10++). The ice cream is made in house but I wasn't too impressed by it as it was too creamy and lacked the strong sesame flavour I'm looking for. The fantastic black sesame ice cream from Tetsu has spoilt my tolerance for other mediocre ones! Nevertheless, the red beans were pretty good as they were not too sweet and paired well with the ice cream.

The Japanese Fruit platter is open price as it depends on what fruits are available on the day. Today, there's Japanese musk melon and apple which cost a grand $28++. The 1st time I ate the famous Japanese musk melon was in Hokkaido so I'm not surprised at the price. The melon is unlike anything as it's extremely juicy and succulent. Try it if you have the chance! You will look at melons differently from then on.

Service was great! Throughout dinner, our cups of green tea was constantly refilled while empty plates were cleared promptly to make way for other dishes. Even Mika, the manager who's from Japan, stopped by and chatted with us. I really couldn't ask for more... Well, maybe except nicer black sesame desserts!

For photos/reviews, visit My Food Sirens =)

Kuriya has alwaz been known for its absolute freshness of sashimi and unique creations by Mr Tsuzuki...The creativity and innovation can be seen in the dishes presented and I do appreciate the efforts behind it ... I've heard and read many wonderful things about Kuriya and when suggestions are needed for a treat.. we chose Kuriya!

Given my pathetic sense of direction.. It's inevitable that we'll end up at e wrong Kuriya 1st.. haha! However that's a blessing in disguise as the display of fresh succulent sashimi at e Fish Market was such a salivating sight that it totally made us wanting for more! n for fans... there's a sushi sashimi fair coming up! do check it out!

Kuriya Dining is a beautifully Japanese-style decorated restaurant and u know that this place definitely has authenticity in mind with not only Japanese staff but also Japanese-style warm multi-functions toilet as well!

We started with e seasonal tomatoes and at $8 per pop.. it's not exactly cheap but there's something abt Jap tomatoes that's totally yummy.. It's soooo sweet! Plus a dash of sea salt (e way i like it rather than with mayo or with nothing).. e savoury n sweetness comes together n it's a yum! totally worth e price tag! e tomatoes at mizuki's though different r sweeter though..

We ordered a sashimi platter and a sushi platter to share plus a swordfish sashimi for e swordfish lover among us... The sashimi r without a doubt very fresh esp since it's a Fri.... The fish slices r quite generous in portion n fresh but what really stood out is e sweet prawns for me.. e sweetness is quite heavenly really... The sushi r quite alrite although i din really fancy e eel sushi (conger eel i tink) but e ikura sushi is fantastic! The generous topping of salmon roe is much appreciated n i had great fun popping them in my mouth!

We had e ebi tempura as well... lightly battered n lightly fried... i tot that e batter is a tad too light ie bland .. e prawn is no doubt very fresh n succulent n it doesn't seem like e usual prawns used but a few of us din really like e batter... we also ordered e clams in sake n e clams perhaps too fresh had some grainy sands in them but e sake broth is quite nice...The creamy seafood tung hoon (we changed e udon to jap tung hoon) is as expected creamy but wasn't outstanding...

A few of us had e wagyu beef with cream sauce and mashed potatoes... I lurvve wagyu beef n can't wait to savour this dish! To be eaten with a soup spoon.. e high-anticipated wagyu beef came across as a bit tough for me.. it's done medium although i do think that medium rare would b a better level.. imagine melts in your mouth wagyu with creamy mashed potatoes would have been so great! However it's still a very wonderful dish as e cream is not too jielat but juz nice with e (a tad too tough) beef n potatoes n veggies.. nice!

We also had a minced tuna handroll each to end the savoury meal ... The handroll is juz decent but it's kinda small n a little warm for me..

To make sure we are all nice n fat.. we each ordered a dessert n i tot my green tea cream cheese cake is wonderful! A small piece of e green tea cheese cake n a small scoop of green tea ice cream n some accompanying fruits..i tot this make a great dessert! The cream cheese cake is so creamy yet fluffy with a subtle green tea taste is such an absolute yum! Do order this to end e meal on a lovely sweet note!

One main grump i had was e service.. They r quite stingy with e soya sauce n considering we had a sashimi n a sushi platter + swordfish sashimi.. i tot e starting soya sauce level in e saucer sld b more generous.. also e wasabi given was a tad too little (juz one small portion found on e sashimi platter for 5 of us) that we actually joked can we have more in case we fight? haha joke not taken by e serious staff.. anyway even e tempura sauce in a saucer was at drought level that when i dip my prawn tempura vertically? only e batter (not even e prawn) got coated with e sauce.. we all had a laugh doing e "dip a bit eat a bit" stunt.. e plates changing was a little too hurried for us that many a times we had to hastily gulp e food down or hold e sushi mid-air to effect e plate transfer.. it's pretty funny when my friend made a face when her prawn tempura got taken away b4 she had finished it! Really wat's e furious plates changing for?... e main courses timing is also a little off.. 2 out of 5 had finished their mains b4 e other 3 got theirs... when e handrolls arrived we had no plates n since a few of us were using our hands to prevent spillage...i asked for plates which i really tot sld b already provided.. it's really hit me when my friends started asking if they can share my soya sauce saucer with them for e handrolls n when i looked across e table.. most r soiled or empty from e sashimi / sushi at e start of e meal n e 3 staff around us din even notice.. oh well..

Overall it's a pretty lovely meal although nothing really leave a deep impression except for e green tea cream cheese cake! oh n e sashimi!..but this is not e only place to get it.. The service certainly didn't help either and honestly it's not too bad a meal but nothing great either.. So far i gotta say..sorry guys i'm not a fan!

Despite the smaller portions and fairly steep prices, you can be assured that you'll be satisfied with the wide variety of dishes from sashimi to ramen. The ingredients are also very fresh. Not forgetting the remarkable service, with the waitresses/captains being attentive to your requests and needs.

Families with children, however, do take note: The restaurant does not allow children as it may disturb other patrons. Not sure about the age limit though.

There is nothing out there that beats this place for the food versus its price. Simply astonishing ! I highly recommend their monthly set dinner menu: wonderfully fresh fish and delicious beef. Nicely served.

Service staff is super ! You should definately get the CP3O -maitre d' to get you seated. The decor is also a blast ! - check out their hands-free loo ...

What an attitude!
I have not stepped in yet, and I never will.
Luckily I said I was bringing my family in the phone call, if I had reached there and they turn me away, I would have been xxx pissed, cos its my mother's birthday.
There are many other Japanese restaurants with better food and attitude in Singapore.
For those who recommend this restaurant under Family Gatherings, please kindly remove as it is untrue.