Food Review #5 - Kuru Kuru Japanese Restaurant

Tucked away at a little mall in River Valley, Kuru Kuru Japanese Restaurant is one of the hubs' and my favourite haunts for Japanese buffet.

We liked this place for its affordability, fresh sashimi and good service. However, in recent years, we realised that as Kuru Kuru's reputation increased, its prices followed suit as well. What used to be affordable now turns out to be slightly more expensive than before. In addition to that, food quality is not consistent. It definitely dropped a few ranks on my list of favourite haunts. :(

The highlight of every Japanese buffet, Kuru Kuru offers Salmon, Tuna, Yellowtail, Sea Bass and Octopus sashimi. Yesterday night when we went there with friends, we were served some very dubious sashimi. It looked a lot like Swordfish (which isn't on the menu). We asked the waitress coz we ordered 4 types of sashimi and only 3 types came so we weren't sure which one it was. We could recognise salmon and tuna easily enough. The waitress told us it was sea bass, so we asked her to bring us another serving. However, what she brought us was even more dubious. It was dull grey, warm, rubbery and wasn't even sliced properly. It was really disappointing. The salmon and the tuna were relatively fresh, but could have been colder or fresher I suppose. Compared to the past, I felt that the sashimi last night were really lacklustre.

Soft shell crab maki. Pretty average.

It's signature braised pork belly. The hubs loves it. I don't really like pork belly that much coz of all the fats.

Yaki Niku, one of my favourite dishes despite the oilyness. The beef is sliced thinly and fragrant, the gravy is also good with rice. :)

Very normal saba fish. Small pieces though.

Tori Karaage, which was quite average. But my friends loved the Tori wasabi mayo though, they commented the wasabi mayonnaise was done very well, and I agree.

All in all, I feel that Kuru Kuru can make more efforts to serve fresher, good quality food. Serving buffet is their choice and not an excuse to compromise on the food quality, especially now that they are looking to increase prices.

We paid $32++ each so it amounted to $37 per person. Service was decent though could be improved. Only good waitress is the lady with the sun tattoo near her thumb *smiles*. She's attentive and ever so polite. The rest of the waitstaff...hmmm...really can improve lah. :)

Food: 3/5
Service: 3/5
Ambience: 3.5
Value-for-money: 3/5

Kuru Kuru Japanese Restaurant

491 River Valley Rd #01-07
Singapore 248371

Tel # (65) 67332292