Kappo dinner with Nonya beurre blanc and kedondong granita at Loca Niru

Diners here are used to seeing wagyu, Hokkaido scallops, Yamanashi grapes and peaches and other premium Japanese ingredients on the menu at Japanese restaurants.

- Tan Hsueh Yun

Loca Niru has a counter and main dining area that each accommodate 12 people, and two private rooms that can seat six diners each. Loca Niru is at 02-01 House of Tan Yeok Nee, 101 Penang Road. It is open from 6 to 11pm, Tuesdays to Saturdays (closed on Sundays and Mondays). For reservations, call 6592-5815 or 8227-4313, or go to str.sg/9jHz

One new fine-dining restaurant, Loca Niru, has these, plus curry leaf, calamansi, sugar cane and kedondong, on its tasting menu.

The 36-seat restaurant, which opened on Nov 6, is in the newly restored House of Tan Yeok Nee in Penang Road. It is the last of the Four Grand Mansions built by Singapore's Teochew tycoons that is still standing, and underwent extensive works that took four years.

Its new owner, the Karim Family Foundation, has spent an estimated $100 million on the project, including more than $80 million to purchase it in 2022. The late tycoon's home is now a lifestyle hub with galleries and dining and entertainment options.

The foundation is the philanthropic arm of a group of companies owned by the Indonesian-Chinese Karim family, led by palm oil tycoon Bachtiar Karim.

Loca Niru, headed by Japanese chef Shusuke Kubota, 33, is the first of two restaurants that the mansion will house. The other, a more casual one, is expected to open in 2026.

Both are part of the family's Gaia Lifestyle Group, which runs restaurants such as The Black Pearl, a fine-dining Chinese restaurant at Odeon 333, and Japanese beef tongue restaurant Gyutan-Tan in Tras Street.

Its principal, Ms Chai Karim, 28, says of Loca Niru: "We don't want to pigeonhole ourselves by calling this just a Japanese restaurant. It is ultimately a gastronomic restaurant that has a Japanese philosophy grounded in French techniques, with ingredients that are both regional and global.

"What I think sets us apart is a prolific use of Southeast Asian and regional ingredients."