Naru Noodle Bar: A Review

Everyone’s heard about Naru. Or you must have at least seen their aesthetic ramen bowls. You may have also heard about the bloodbath that happens every Monday on their website to get a reservation. So, I did go to Naru. Before I talk about my experience at Naru, I want to dive a bit into all the hype surrounding Naru and its history.

NARU: NOODLE BAR

A Brief Intro about Naru:

Naru is Chef Kavan Kuttappa’s brainchild. “Naru” means “to become” in Japanese. And it is also a sweet nickname used by Kavan’s mom for his dad, Narendra. Naru originally started off as a pop-up store in Shanti Nagar before expanding to an 8-seater in The Courtyard. It further spread its wings in December to a 20-seater. The story behind Naru is a bowl of ramen that Kavan had in New York back in 2011 and, quote-unquote, has been chasing that bowl of ramen ever since.

Another fun fact: Kavan was the culinary head at Toit, everyone’s favourite brewery in Indiranagar. He was also named one of GQ’s Most Influential Young Indians of 2024.

Now that we have spoken about Naru and Chef Kavan, let us get right into all the soupy details about the food. Oh, wait! Before you get to taste the food, there is an important thing I forgot to touch upon — something that has made Naru very famous. I mean, I have heard people talk more about this than the food. It is the reservations. Sorry for that intense build-up. Getting a reservation at Naru is one of my Top 5 moments from 2025.

Reservations:

The reservations open at 8 PM every Monday. I was traveling back home on a bus when I decided to try booking a reservation. At 8 PM, a calendar pops up at the end of the reservation webpage. You can choose your day of the week and your slot. They have slots starting from 12:30 PM up until 8:30 PM, from Tuesday to Sunday. Your reservation is for 90 minutes. You have counter seats and tables. The bar seats cost ₹1,000 per head, and the tables cost ₹5,000. All this amount is redeemable against your bill.

People were not kidding when they said the reservations would be sold out soon. I chose a Friday afternoon slot, and by the time I got to type my number, the slot was booked. I checked all the slots, and everything got sold out within 10 seconds. 10 seconds. I kid you not! Luckily, I found a slot on Tuesday afternoon for 4:30 PM. Booking reservations is really a game of fastest fingers.

Pro-tip: Pre-save your payment information like your card details. Sometimes, you could be at the payment gateway waiting for GPay to open, and it is already sold out. I will attach the reservation link at the end. Naru’s Instagram also puts out reminders for their slots. Do check their page out.

Now that reservations are out of my way, I decided to do some homework and check out their menu. They have their menu on their website. The menu has appetizers, ramen, beverages, and desserts. They have vegan, vegetarian, and non-vegetarian options. Their menu also has all the prices, so you can plan before going to the noodle bar.

Naru is nestled in The Courtyard. It is in Shanti Nagar, right next to Ajji House by Subko. As soon as you enter Naru, you really do feel like you are being transported to a Japanese diner. I decided to check out Naru with a friend of mine. You are greeted by the kind waiters who show you to your seats.

Right in the middle of Naru, there is a pillar with books and a big, shiny bowl with Virat and Anushka’s signatures. We had booked counter seats, as it was just the two of us. We were given the menus. The menus do not have a lot of food items, so you know that they specialize in perfecting every dish that they send out from their kitchen. They focus on quality and not quantity. A lot of attention is given to the flavours and the preparation of the items on this menu.

One thing to note: we were also given the drinks menu, something that is not present on their website. The drinks mainly had different types of sake. We started off with our appetizers. The chefs there really help you out when it comes to choosing your food. They ask about your tastes and describe the flavours of the food to see what you would really like.

Food:

We ordered Fried Avocado and Curried Crab Temaki Tacos. For drinks, we ordered Cola and Peach Kombucha. The drinks came first. The Cola Kombucha, to be honest, tasted like your normal jeera soda. You might want to skip this one. The Peach Kombucha was sweet and it is a nice palate cleanser.

The appetizers take some time. You can watch the chefs prepare your food. You can see them boiling the stacks of noodles and preparing every meal. The Fried Avocado Taco was really good. I never knew avocados could taste this good. It is fried avocado between rice. It was delicious.

Fried Avocado Taco

Chilly Cheese Crab Taco

My friend tried all the non-veg items on the menu. She really loved her Crab Taco as well. You get a single taco, not multiple. Be mindful of this when you are ordering your appetizers.

Next, we ordered our mains. We spoke to the chefs, and they suggested Kara Miso for me. My friend wanted something spicy. It was decided it would be Tori Paitan for her. She also got Naruto Fish Cake as an add-on. You have small and large bowls. We chose the small bowls.

Kara Miso

Tori Paitan

When the bowls were placed in front of me, I was stunned. The bowls looked so pretty and aesthetic. They do taste as good as they look. My Kara Miso was amazing. It had tofu, mushrooms, and beans. My friend’s Tori Paitan had chicken, cabbage, scallion, and rice cake. The ramen bowls are so flavourful. I did love them a lot. This was my friend’s review for the Tori Paitan: “My chicken ramen was a banger. Finished the full bowl.”

We had already crossed our 90-minute mark by the time we ordered desserts. So, this was the best part of my entire experience at Naru. We ordered a Double Chocolate Cake and Japanese Cheesecake.

Double Chocolate Cake

Japanese Cheesecake

Where do I start? The Double Chocolate Cake with vanilla bean ice cream and candied orange peel. I was mind-blown after eating this cake. The cake just melts in your mouth. Top it with ice cream and the tiniest bit of the orange peel — it is heaven.

And next, the Japanese Cheesecake. Let me tell you this: I have never been a fan of cheesecakes. As soon as I took a hesitant bite of this cheesecake, everything changed. This cheesecake is so soft and buttery. I am an ardent fan of this cheesecake now. I could eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. My only regret is not having another serving of the cake.

By the time we finished our desserts, we had spent more than 90 minutes at Naru. We took some photos. The chef there was so lovely — he switched on extra lights and took the best pictures. He knew our profiles better than we did. While we were leaving, we already saw people queued up for the next slot. They were waiting to experience Naru, and their lives would change as well.

So, our bill came up to ₹4,736. This includes the service charge and GST. Since we had already paid ₹2,000 for the reservation, we paid the balance.

Now, here comes the important question: Does Naru live up to the hype?

Yes, it does. However, they have capitalized on the entire reservation aspect, making it not accessible to just anyone. People’s FOMO plays a role here, along with word-of-mouth hype about the food. Naru is placed 17th on India’s Top 50 Restaurants by Conde Nast Traveller India.

If you ask me, if you are a devout fan of ramen and you are tired of your Daily Sushi and Misu Sexy, do check this place out. It is fine dining at its best. Yes, the reservation process is a hassle — something Chef Kavan plans on changing soon. But the food and desserts are worth it.

Things we ordered:

Beverages: Cola Kombucha (5/10), Peach Kombucha (7/10)

Appetisers: Fried Avocado (8/10) and Curried Crab Temaki Taco (8/10)

Mains: Kara Miso (8/10), Tori Paitan (15/10)

Desserts: Japanese Cheesecake (11/10), Double Chocolate Cake (10/10)

Naru Noodle Bar: 📍 #105, KH Road, Shanti Nagar, Bangalore, India 560027 📸 Instagram: @eatnaru 📅 Reservation link: https://bookings.airmenus.in/eatnaru/order