A fun, quirky restobar with great Happy Hour promotions, Tanuki Raw adds a shot of life and colour to the otherwise quiet Orchard Central.

Though in recent times the building has seen many new additions to its food and beverage establishments, so perhaps it is not really as sleepy as it used to be.

But anyway, I digress. Recently, I visited Tanuki Raw with some girl friends of mine to enjoy their Happy Hour deals like the S$10 martinis/cocktails, S$2 fresh raw oysters (limited to 6 per drink) and S$7 salmon sashimi (5 slices, 1 order per drink).

A venture by Howard Lo, the man behind the Standing Sushi chains, Tanuki Raw has that similar ‘affordable good food at a simple, casual place to chill out’ proposition.

The food was that – generally quite tasty though not particularly fantastic.

I found their house specialty Truffle Yakiniku (S$18) a little too salty (my friend S thought so too), but I felt that the meat, rice and poached egg was cooked to nearly perfect textures and had good flavour.

The oysters and sashimi were rather average, but for the prices I’d say they were acceptable and made for good accompaniments to the overall meal and drinks.

The martinis we had were definitely rather ‘bang for the buck’ as it seemed like they did not stinge on the alcohol.

The crispy Lotus Chips (S$6) went really well with the drinks, delicious with a lightly salted flavour and excellent crunch.

Unfortunately the Tanuki Aburi (S$11) somewhat disappointed – the salmon and scallop were okay, but the dish was served with crabstick instead of actual crab, and the yuzu dressing barely came through at all.

It was a really great for unwinding after a day at work though. And for those who work in the area, it seems Tanuki Raw has some rather delicious sounding lunch sets at pretty good value!

This is a place I would patronise again.

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Tanuki Raw
181 Orchard Road
#02-03 Orchard Central
Singapore 238896

Tel: +65 6636 5949
Website: http://tanukibar.com

Open from 11.30am to 10.30pm daily. Lunch sets served between 11.30am and 3pm, Happy Hour from 5pm to 8pm.