JR Pizzeria: Home-based pizza chef Joachim Loo opens heartland restaurant
- After leaving mainstream school and attending a vocational programme, Joachim Loo worked at restaurants including Wild Rocket, Swissotel, and Restaurant Zen.
- He started making pizzas simply to prove his sister wrong, and it grew into a home-based business.
- Today, JR Pizzeria is a neighbourhood restaurant that pairs technically crafted Neapolitan pizzas with fresh ingredients.
Freshly baked pizza emerging from a blisteringly hot oven has become a familiar sight at JR Pizzeria. Inside the bright, cosy restaurant at Alkaff Crescent, diners gather around tables and tuck into artisanal Neapolitan pizzas.
Signature creations such as the pesto pizza, layered with pistachio pesto and mortadella, sit alongside classics such as the margherita, while newer additions include desserts such as tiramisu, and hummus to pair with pizza crust.
Just months ago, Joachim was serving pizzas through the window of his Hougang HDB flat, operating a modest home-based business that steadily built a loyal following.
Before that, he was simply a chef experimenting with dough after his sister declared his very first homemade pizza as “horrible”. Instead of giving up, Joachim doubled down and is now the proud owner of his very first pizzeria at Alkaff Crescent.
Starting from scratch
Joachim tells us he’d never followed a conventional educational path. After completing his Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) exams, he realised mainstream education was not for him. Sitting through classroom lessons proved difficult. By secondary one, he had left school entirely.
Recognising his interest in hands-on work, Joachim’s parents enrolled the then-14-year-old into YMCA’s Vocational and Soft Skills Programme (VASSP), a decision Joachim now credits with changing the trajectory of his life.
“My parents’ immediate thought was that at least I wouldn’t starve,” he recalls, with a laugh.
Beyond practical life skills such as resume writing and interview preparation, the programme introduced him to culinary training. For the first time, he found himself genuinely interested in learning.
Upon completing the course, Joachim entered the workforce almost immediately. His earliest experiences included working at restaurants such as Relish Burger and Wild Rocket, where he was first exposed to more refined cooking techniques. The deeper he ventured into professional kitchens, the more he realised that the demanding nature of restaurant life suited him.
While many would find 14-hour shifts exhausting, Joachim viewed the kitchen differently.
“I really liked the long hours,” he tells us. “Working in the kitchen at that point in time was a way to escape everything.”
His culinary journey later took him to Swissotel and eventually three-Michelin-starred Restaurant Zen, where he worked under chef Kurt Weidner. There, he found himself immersed in fine dining, helping with food preparation, service, and R&D for VIP diners whose menus changed almost daily.
Although he enjoyed working in fine dining, he preferred a more casual dining format.
“I wanted to create something more casual and accessible that everyone can enjoy,” he shares.
Venturing into pizza
For someone now known for pizza, Joachim had little experience making one. Having struggled to find authentic Italian-style pizzas in Singapore, Joachim’s sister challenged him to make one himself and was not impressed.
Rather than feeling discouraged, Joachim became determined to prove her wrong. He immersed himself in recipes, researching dough fermentation, studying videos of experienced pizza makers such as Vincenzo Capuano, and testing batch after batch.
“I ate so much dough that I gained at least 5kg in the process,” Joachim jokes.
Eventually, the same sister gave him her approval. Whilst his harshest critic, she and her fiancee are his biggest supporters.
They eventually bought him his very first pizza oven, allowing him to continue experimenting from home. His pizzas soon became popular among friends and he even catered for small events such as church gatherings.
In May 2025, Joachim chose to open a home-based business, operating from the window of his Hougang HDB flat. Customers would place their orders before collecting freshly baked pizzas directly from his home.
They stood just a few feet away as Joachim stretched dough, assembled toppings, and fired pizzas inside the oven. Those moments naturally sparked conversations.
“My customers appreciate seeing their pizzas being prepared in front of them,” Joachim says. “It was an opportunity to share my knowledge of pizza-making.”
Operating from home taught Joachim that every diner came with different tastes and expectations.
“The biggest takeaway wasn’t just about tweaking recipes,” he says. “It was about learning how to listen to my customers.”
He adds, “I realised our job isn’t just to feed people. It’s to cater to them, create a genuine connection through food, and build a community.”
From home-based to physical restaurant
Despite the popularity of the home-based concept, Joachim knew it could not continue forever.
The bigger issue was the disruption the business unintentionally created. Customers often waited outside his unit along the common corridor, occasionally blocking walkways and affecting neighbouring households. Whilst there were no formal complaints, Joachim did not wish to further disturb his neighbours.
Running a commercial-grade pizza oven inside an HDB flat also generated an enormous amount of heat that lingered, long after service ended. Even with air-conditioning running, the residual heat filled the home each night, affecting his family.
He also found that some customers became increasingly curious about his personal living space. “They kept wanting to see my house and it was invading my family’s privacy,” he says.
Eventually, Joachim realised that if JR Pizzeria was to continue growing, it needed a proper home. When the opportunity arose to occupy the current Alkaff Crescent space, he describes the move from home to restaurant as a natural progression.
“Moving from a home setup to a historic, vibrant space like Alkaff allows us to elevate the entire dining experience while staying true to our roots,” he says.
The larger kitchen also unlocked possibilities that simply weren’t feasible before. With more manpower and workspace, JR Pizzeria has expanded beyond pizzas to include housemade sides, desserts and drinks — such as tiramisu (S$20), strawberry matcha (S$7) and mixed berry matcha (S$7).
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The menu and what we tried
Joachim describes his current menu as more streamlined than the home-based iteration.
He once featured pizzas topped with homemade rendang, and even a Middle Eastern-inspired baba ghanoush creation.
As much as he enjoyed making them, they demanded too much labour as all the ingredients were constructed from scratch. Now, he focuses on flavours that reflect the restaurant’s identity while remaining practical to execute consistently.
One of his bestsellers, his pesto pizza ($30.50), was born from wanting to showcase mortadella differently.
Rather than relying solely on pistachios, Joachim created a richer pistachio pesto using herbs, premium olive oil, and imported pecorino cheese, producing a more pronounced nutty flavour.
We enjoyed his take on pesto pizza, especially the burrata which added another layer of creaminess.
The bresaola pizza (S$25.50) similarly reflects his preference for creating flavours that feel distinctive without becoming overly experimental.
Built around house-made romesco sauce, cream cheese, and cured beef, the pizza balances tomato sweetness, capsicum notes, and creamy richness. While bresaola remains relatively uncommon in Singapore, the combination here feels approachable and refreshing.
The margherita pizza (S$16) is perhaps the purest expression of Joachim’s approach to pizza, and our standout dish. The pizza comes topped with San Marzano tomato sauce, fior di latte mozzarella, parmesan, basil, and extra virgin olive oil.
The crust emerges lightly blistered with the characteristic leopard spotting of a Neapolitan pizza, while remaining airy inside with a pleasantly chewy bite.
Joachim describes Neapolitan pizza as one of the most technically demanding foods he has worked on. “The hardest part is managing dough hydration and ambient fermentation to achieve the perfect crust and distinct leopard-spot char,” he says.
One important step is calibrating the crust-to-topping ratio well. During flash-bakes, the textures come together without overwhelming the palate.
As for sides, the fried chicken wings (S$12) proved to be an excellent companion.
Seasoned with ingredients such as cumin, oregano, and black pepper, the wings arrive crisp on the outside while remaining juicy within. The cumin lends earthy warmth, while oregano introduces subtle herbal notes that linger pleasantly after each bite.
The hummus (S$3.90) was another noteworthy side, being creamy and flavourful. It paired perfectly with the pizza crust, especially for diners who find the crust a bit too doughy to eat on its own.
Looking ahead
For Joachim, he hopes that opening JR Pizzeria will lead to more opportunities.
“That is absolutely the dream,” he says when asked if he hopes to expand the brand someday. “Sharing our love for pizza with more neighbourhoods is something we strive for.”
Still, he emphasises that growth should never come at the expense of the community that helped build the business.
“A restaurant is nothing without its village,” he says. “We grow as our guests grow with us.”
That community-first mindset has remained remarkably consistent throughout Joachim’s journey. Beyond the food itself, he hopes diners leave remembering how something as simple as pizza can create lasting memories with the people around them.
“Pizza is rarely a meal you eat alone,” he says. “It’s meant for sharing, laughing, and passing slices across the table.”
For more ideas on what to eat, check out how to make pizza, according to chef Antonio Miscellaneo of La Bottega and Casa Vostra, or Yogeek, a new froyo spot in town.
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- Woodleigh
Rebecca Wong is an experienced freelance writer whose work has been featured in The Straits Times and Channel NewsAsia, to name a few. She gravitates towards topics like food, travel and human interest stories, and cannot resist a hearty plate of chicken rice or freshly kneaded pizza.
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