Iru Den
A Note on Cuisine
Iru Den is included on Umami Compass because Chef Javier Low trained at Michelin-starred Cenci in Kyoto and the restaurant's technical foundation is Japanese. However, it is important to be transparent: Iru Den is NOT a traditional Japanese restaurant. Since 2023, the focus has shifted heavily toward Taiwanese ingredients — sourced from Chef Javier's wife Emily's hometown fishing markets in Taiwan. The cuisine is best described as contemporary Taiwanese fine dining prepared with Japanese and European techniques. If you are looking for sushi, ramen, kaiseki, or any traditional Japanese cuisine, this is not the right choice. If you are looking for one of Singapore's most creative and unique fine dining experiences — one that bridges Taiwanese produce with Japanese discipline and European flair — Iru Den is extraordinary.
Highlights
About Iru Den
Iru Den — meaning 'The Den' — is hidden inside a black-and-white colonial house at 27 Scotts Road, steps from Orchard Road but feeling like a different world. Chef-owner Javier Low opened the restaurant in 2021, evolving from his earlier one-man kitchen Il Den (2018, Bugis Cube). His formative culinary years were spent at Singapore's Iggy's and, crucially, at Michelin-starred Cenci in Kyoto, Japan — an experience that gave him the Japanese foundation that permeates everything at Iru Den: respect for seasonality, precision in preparation, and an instinct for letting ingredients speak.
The pivotal shift came in 2023. Rising ingredient costs from Japan — driven by the Russia-Ukraine conflict's impact on oil prices — forced Chef Javier to rethink his sourcing. A trip to Taiwan with his wife Emily (who is Taiwanese, from a fishing town near Taipei) revealed that Taiwanese seafood, fruits, and vegetables were abundant, high-quality, and available at sustainable prices. He revamped the menu entirely, founded an import company with his brother to bring Taiwanese produce to Singapore, and transformed Iru Den into something no other restaurant in Singapore offers: progressive contemporary Taiwanese fine dining, built on Japanese technique and European flair.
The space itself is part of the experience. Enter through a wooden gate, walk down a garden path beside the car park, and find the locked door of the colonial house. Reservations are checked before entry. Inside, the counter faces an open kitchen where Chef Javier and his team work. A private room accommodates larger groups. The menu changes seasonally, with a 5-course option (S$128++) offering an accessible entry and the 9-course (S$258++) delivering the full expression.
Recommended For
Menu & Pricing
| 5-Course Tasting Menu | S$128++ |
| 9-Course Tasting Menu (full seasonal expression) | S$258++ |
| Add: Uni Somen (signature) | +S$38++ |
| Add: Seasonal Donabe (seafood claypot rice) | +S$24++ |
| Beverage pairing — 4 glasses (sake, wine, non-alcoholic) | S$80++ |
| Beverage pairing — 6 glasses | S$120++ |
All prices subject to 10% service charge and 9% GST. Menu changes seasonally.
Practical Info
- Tue–Sat: 6pm–11pm (dinner only)
- Sun–Mon: Closed
Dietary Info
Photos
Location
27 Scotts Road, Singapore 228222
📍 Open in Google MapsYour Dining Journey at Iru Den
Finding the Hidden Door
This is not a restaurant you stumble upon. Enter through a wooden gate on Scotts Road, walk down a garden path beside the car park — not toward the first building you see (a common mistake), but to a door in the left corner of the colonial grounds. Your reservation is checked. The locked door slides open. You've entered 'The Den.'
Amuse Bouche: Taiwan Meets Japan
Twin snacks open the meal: an Aichi Amela Tomato Tart alongside a Taiwan Sakura Ebi Gunkan with tamagoyaki. In two bites, Chef Javier's dual identity is established — Japanese form, Taiwanese soul. The natural flavours are front and centre, with minimum embellishment. This is not a restaurant that hides behind sauces.
Seasonal Courses
The menu changes completely with the seasons. Recent highlights: hamachi ceviche with Taiwanese plum and cucumber; amadai (tilefish) pan-fried in a broth of Taiwanese bonito with pickled green chilli; a multi-coloured Persimmon course with Japanese kaki, zucchini, watermelon radish, and amberjack sashimi dressed in Dekopon orange. Each dish is a quiet revelation — not shouting for attention, but rewarding close observation. The Uni Somen (add S$38) is the signature: cold somen noodles with sea urchin, a dish that perfectly encapsulates the restaurant's Japanese-Taiwanese bridge.
Main & Donabe
The main course is typically a dry-aged, reverse-seared protein — recent menus have featured Irish Silver Hill Duck with gobo chips and maqaw pepper, or smoked meats with house-fermented chestnut miso aged three months (Singapore's heat accelerates fermentation, creating a bolder, saltier miso than Japanese versions). The optional Donabe (add S$24) is a seafood-heavy hybrid of Singaporean claypot rice and Japanese donabe — comforting, rich, and a bridge between two homes.
Dessert & the Walk Back
The 'Cereal' dessert — caramelised pears, toasted cereal ice cream, miso namelaka, and a caramelised tuile — is a masterclass in texture and restraint. After the meal, you walk back through the garden path, past the wooden gate, and onto Scotts Road. The colonial house recedes behind you. There is no signage, no Instagram neon. Just a very good meal in a very hidden place, made by a chef who chose to turn a supply chain crisis into the most creative restaurant pivot Singapore has seen.
Editor's Note
We must be upfront: Iru Den sits at the edge of what Umami Compass typically covers. It is not a Japanese restaurant in any traditional sense — no sushi, no ramen, no kaiseki. The chef is Singaporean, not Japanese. The primary ingredients are now Taiwanese. We include it because the technical DNA is Japanese (Chef Javier trained at Cenci, Kyoto), the cooking approach has Japanese discipline at its core, and it is listed in the Michelin Guide under Japanese-adjacent categories. That said, the S$128++ five-course menu is extraordinary value for fine dining of this quality — it may be the best-value tasting menu in the Orchard area. The S$258++ nine-course delivers a complete narrative experience. The hidden colonial house setting is genuinely special and unlike any other restaurant in Singapore. Honest caveats: the entrance is confusing — many first-time visitors go to the wrong building. The restaurant can feel small and some diners report being seated in awkward positions (facing mirrored pillars). The shift from Japanese to Taiwanese ingredients in 2023 surprised some loyal customers who preferred the original direction. Some reviews note that for the price, the portions can feel small — particularly for diners not accustomed to fine dining portion sizes. The dinner-only hours (6pm-11pm, Tue-Sat) limit accessibility. But for those who appreciate creativity, seasonality, and a chef who found beauty in necessity, Iru Den is one of Orchard's most rewarding dining secrets.