Oysters & Martinis @ Tanuki Raw, Orchard Central

It's Chinese New Year withdrawal.

Considering that Chinese New Year is coming to an end (it was the 14th day yesterday) and that everyone will be back into their serious overworked lives with endless hounding, SkyC and I decided to end it off with drinks and a toast to the Snake Year.

That's how we ended up at Tanuki Raw, Orchard Central.

Happy hour menu

Tanuki was set up by the same people behind Standing Sushi Bar so at least you know your fish is treated right. This place reminded me of oysters bars you would see in the States where one just kept eating oysters,  with bibs tied around their necks and loud slurping. Well... there are no bibs and slurping here. Just alcohol and oysters.

It's SkyC's second time here and he has been trying to get me to come with for some time. For happy hour, the prices for selected drinks and food were pretty darn decent!

We each went with a martini - a vodka martini for him and a lychee martini for me at SGD10 each. I took a sip. Hey, it's pretty good. We sat at the smoking area, even though neither of us smoked, to get a view of Orchard Road.

Ok, my handphone camera is quite bad :(

Next came the main performer or should I say main performers of Tanuki's happy hour. Oysters... freshly shucked with Tabasco sauce and lemon, set on ice.  The icing on the cake? It's SGD1 each. Yup, you read that right SGD1 each. The only catch to this discounted dish is that we are limited to 24 oysters. We did just that.

SkyC's better smartphone

After having 12 oysters per person, we were getting quite sick of the briny taste. We washed it down with our remaining vodka and went on to order karage, sashimi and misubi. By now you would know that Tanuki serves modern slightly fusioned Japanese food.

Musubi! Everything tastes better with luncheon meat

At the end of the meal, we sat quietly, enjoying the night scene as our meal made its way down our digestive tract. The bill came up to slightly under SGD100.

I would say that Tanuki is great for happy hour but the non Happy Hour dishes may be a little pricy for some for the portion size. Probably a return trip will be made for a lychee martini one day. When things start to look dreary at the office and I just need a short time out on a Friday evening.

Tanuki Raw
Address: 181 Orchard Road, #02-03 Orchard Central, Singapore  238896
Tel : (+65)6636 5949
Web: www.tanukibar.com
Email: tanuki@tanukibar.com
Happy Hour: 5pm-8pm daily 
Opening Hours: 11.30am - 10.30pm
Price: $$