Tummy Prosperity: Lip-smacking Lunch at Tanuki Raw

First attention stealer from this place? Without even a single doubt, I could clearly call out it's the Truffle Yakiniku! Well, are you kidding me? Just look at that impeccably runny yolk located right at the center of the bowl? Call me insane if I say I'm not drooling! Looking at its image appearing on my timeline when I was in Singapore, I enthusiastically showed the picture to my friend, pledging that we should go there no matter what.

As usual, I did my little research on the place before finally coming there. I was so glad when I figured that they applied what typical Japanese restaurant did, serving cheaper price at lunch time for particular dishes. They called it Happy Hour, which basically lasted from 11.30am - 3.00pm. And big yesss the menu I wanted to try was listed there as number one. Woohooo! When I said cheaper, it's actually a quite significant price difference, amounting approximately SGD 5. Couldn't be a better deal, could it?

So there we were, arriving at the venue exactly at early lunch time, to avoid the place being overly crowded. We in the end still had to queue, though it's just less than 5 minutes. I didn't expect that the restaurant was actually quite huge, having both indoor and outdoor spaces, as well as seats by the bar. This time my friends and I went for the indoor one as it's kinda too hot outside.

Great thing, the waiters and waitresses seemed very experienced handling the crowd as they could manage the turnover went pretty well, which in turn making the waiting time became quite fast. Taking the lunch package menu, we could easily decided which one to opt for as I guessed all of us had had our order in mind even before we reached the place; well thanks to the social media for making our life got easier.

Truffle Yakiniku (SGD 14.9)
Pan-seared US black angus short rib, onsen egg, truffle soy sauce over Tanuki's signature mixed rice

Ok let's start with the magnet that drew us here. Looking at the picture only, I believed you could already imagine how palatable it was. Those glossy slices of pan-seared Black Angus short rib were certainly seductive!! Such heaven on earth. Tender and juicy meat, coated in lip-smacking truffle soy sauce; geez, who on earth could ever hold himself from 'getting high' with truffle oil?! Not to mention the indulging Japanese mixed rice which was absolutely a drug (if you knew what I meant). You actually had the option to go for plain rice, yet this mixed one for me was definitely a perfect option as even the rice itself was already tasty. Mixing it with the beef, the sauce, and the faultlessly runny yolk? Mind-blowing!

Foie Gras Truffle Yakiniku (19.9)

Pan-seared foie gras, US black angus short rib, onsen egg, truffle soy, black garlic brown butter over Tanuki's signature mixed rice

Wanna get hypnotized even deeper? Add extra happiness into your bowl like my friend did. Spotted already? Yeaaahhh, that giant foie gras to get you flown. Just FYI, my friend loved foie gras and she got sold to this!

Salted Duck Egg Char Siew (SGD 15.9)

Tender seasoned Japanese Nagano pork belly char siew, onsen egg, mixed mushroom, and golden salted duck egg hollandaise over sushi rice

You must be imagining that this would be like the typical salted egg yolk rice being hype lately in Jakarta. I did think the same but it turned out different, especially this came with pork slices instead of chicken like usual. Instead of having that buttery salted egg taste, this one was more like rice mixed with egg yolk, just that it's thicker due to the texture of the duck egg. So if you fancied that salted egg flavor, this might be not for you, yet for me whose palate didn't suit with salted egg, this was totally not bad. And that super tender pork belly, literally melted in my mouth!

Chirashi (SGD 17.8)

Mix of sashimi including tuna, salmon belly aburi, salmon sashimi, scallop, sea bream, swordfish, white tuna, yellow tail, ikura, tamago, ebiko over Tanuki's signature mixed rice

When you're in the mood for something from the sea, then go for the Chirashi, fresh cut of various seafood on top of the signature mixed rice. Well I guessed we had rich selections of protein on the table today, and this bowl was my other favorite. All the fish slices were marvelously delectable being so fresh and hence giving that perfect sashimi texture. The champion was unquestionably the scallop being so thick yet so moist at the same time, making me even drooling again when I was writing this!

Again another typical characteristic of Japanese restaurant, they did provide the option to make your order coming in a set. Just by adding SGD 2, you would get additional Miso soup, green salad, and free-flow ocha. Another pennies saved LOL.

Having my curiosity been answered, I could surely say that this last lunch I had on this short sweet escape to Singapore is such a marvelous ending of the trip. I would doubtlessly come back to this place for everything I had on my table ;).

Taste: 8.5/10

Place: 8/10

Service: 8.5/10

Price: 8/10

Thanks for Reading! :)