SINGAPORE – Ristorante Luka’s typically bustling evening service was interrupted on Friday when a fire broke out in the kitchen, prompting some 30 diners and 10 restaurant employees to evacuate.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it was alerted to the fire at 18 Tanjong Pagar Road – where Luka has been housed for the last six years – at about 6.30pm on Friday.

SCDF said the fire involved a kitchen exhaust duct, although the cause of the fire is still under investigation.

By the time firefighters arrived, about 40 people had already been evacuated, it added.

SCDF extinguished the blaze on the first-floor unit with one water jet. There were no reported injuries.

Luka’s restaurant manager, 40, told Chinese-language newspaper Shin Min Daily News that he was in the kitchen at around 6pm when he realised the exhaust pipe had caught fire.

The manager, who declined to be named, said: “There were more than 30 diners at the time. I asked my employees to evacuate them quickly, and then called the civil defence for help.”

In response to queries from The Straits Times, a restaurant employee said the Tanjong Pagar branch will be closed for several days.

In an Instagram post on Saturday, the restaurant announced that its Tanjong Pagar outlet will be closed temporarily to “undergo a bit of maintenance”. It will resume business on Wednesday, it said.

The fire on Friday coincided with the last day of operations at Luka’s second and only other outlet at Cross Street Exchange.