19th // Tanuki Raw

Spent my 19th simply but expensively... (o-o) let's get into it!!

Woke in the morning for b'fast before cycling out to the post office to post out the Zalora items that I wanted to refund/ exchange. (tip: try not to buy items made by Zalora lol the material sucks, but their service usually damn good)

Got ready and waited for Ru to come by to pass me my gift (which she insisited must be before I go out HAHAH). AND MY BABY NIECE CAME ALONG TOO AWW SHE DAMN ADORABLE HEEH. Finally went to take the bus to town with Mummy b'cos she took whole day leave to go out for lunch with me hehe. Wanted to try Tanuki Raw since forever and so my birthday was the day to try 😎

For those who don't know, Tanuki Raw is kind of Japanese-Western fusion kind of cafe/restaurant (?) situated in Orchard Central on the 4th level, neighbouring with the popular Genki Sushi. Just take the escalator up from within Uniqlo.

We were at first seated near the entrance as there were no space further in. But after deciding on the menu I noticed that quite a few people left from within so I requested to move in (b'cos got better lighting mah so pictures nicer mah) and the staff very kindly help shifted our glasses to our next table. Sorry for being a burden haah.

Initial table

2nd table with Mummy and her bowl

Ambiance

First off, there's quite a lot of seats leh like from near the entrance, to within with 2 bar counters and an outside seating! I think it gave off a pretty classy and bar-like feel and would be a really nice dinner/drink get together with friends after work. It ain't shabby either in the afternoon as the big glass doors allowed all the sunlight in, lighting up the cafe with natural sunlight.

Rating: ⚓⚓⚓⚓

Food

We both ordered the Truffled Yakiniku Don 💸 $14.90 which can be zhnged by adding real truffle slices 💸 $17 (I think)

Flat Lay

Spanning down

Spanning down further to be up close and personal

I think the truffle oil and charsiew smell was very strong on first whiff although I quickly forgot how truffle smelt or taste like (AGAIN) after eating. Yes I know they're beef slices nor pork so why I saw charsiew?? But they really reminded us of charsiew lol

They're Angus beef ribs slices (if I never remember wrongly) topped with onsen egg and what I think are 3 daikon (preserved radish) slices atop a bed of sushi rice that was drizzled with some kind of shoyu I think and furikake.

The star of the dish tasted pretty charred and beefy. I forgot what they were marinated in/glazed with but they're kinda salty, not in a bad way though. However, they were very hard to tear through which results in us just dumping the whole slice into our mouth. The accompaniments are slightly more underwhelming; my yolk wasn't very flowy when I wanted to do an egg porn video sigh, Mummy's was much better though; the daikon were so-so; the rice was the most disappointing tbh. Maybe it's just me who has a stronger palate but I felt that the rice was kinda bland despite the sauces and even when eaten with the beef (the egg helped a lil though, I mean egg is life). I had to drizzle my bowl with the Tabasco sauce to help it along the flavor factor.
Didn't use to like Tabasco b'cos of its weird smell but I'm a convert after yesterday. woahh 😍😍
Ya so I personally would recomment adding in Tabasco but just try it by itself first la hor. Carb lovers rejoice b'cos it's a pretty generous amount of rice in that bowl.

They do have other items on their menu so feel free to check them out if yall happen to visit in groups!!

Okay final thoughts: worth going once for the experience, and quite reasonable in pricing (has GST and service charges okay), the beef I prefer the Taiwan night market beef cubes though like omg those were bomb!! or maybe it's just me who never eat enough beef to know whether it's good or not hahaa

Taste: ⚓⚓⚓

AND OMG LUCKY ME??

Didn't realise when I went in BUT a Mediacorp actor and his crew were sitting just like at the table next to ours??? partitioned by a window la though. Zhang Zhen Huan I think? Omg he's so shuai irl though!!! Never really paid much attention to him on TV usually but wow. Didn't ask for a photo with him b'cos like I also not his fan or anything, just find him shuai. You don't out of no where go ask a stranger whom you think good-looking for a phot right?? (ok maybe some of yall do but I don't la ok HAHAHH)

Shopping

After lunch, we left to go shopping~ B'cos my friends gave me H&M gift card and Sephora gift card from Ru, so take the chance to spend hehe.

1st stop was H&M, browsed through all the levels that interest me, and my only loot was an army green tee with the word "ORIGINAL" printed across the front 💸 $17.95. Super soft and comfortable sia the material!!! So, the card still has leftover value for future trips I guess heh.

2nd stop was supposed to be Sephora but guess who received an email from Kikki.k which said that I'm entitled to a $10 voucher for my birthday month hue!!! Only grabbed like 2 different stacks of stickers BUT turns out 1 stack was free so I went to grab another stack of stickers BUT still not enough so got again another stack WHICH STILL NOT ENOUGH so the staff advised a pen HAHAAH basically I got 4 different stacks of stickers and a pen from Kikki.k at only $9.80!!! A stack of stickers from there not cheap ok! And still worth b'cos quite a few sheets inside plus so chio siaa. Damn shiok to walk in and out of a place without paying for stuff HAHAHHA

3rd stop was finally Sephora!! Thought I was exclusive for having the birthday card voucher thing but turns out anyone could have it from Ion 's branch LOL It's buy 5 items and the 5th* will be charged at $1. (* the cheapest one la hor) So the items I grabbed were:

Goof Proof Brow Pencil set from Benefit 💸$46

(Shade 3 brow pencil + mini Ready, Set, Brow Gel + mini Roller Lash Mascara)
The pencil itself was $42 and the staff recommended getting the set which was much more worth la (but only applicable for Shade 3!!) I don't know what to do with the gel though.

Mini Dandelion Blusher from Benefit 💸 $26

The full size was for $51 but I had tips from friends to just get mini sizes whenever I can b'cos it'll last damn long (at least for us b'cos we still don't use it that often anyways) There was this highlighter under the same Dandelion series as well in pink box AND IT WAS SUPER PRETTY OMG so shimmery!!!!! 😍 but they don't have it in mini version so :(

Sugar Lips Treatment in Honey shade from Fresh 💸 $36

It's kind of a shimmery tinted lipbalm. Was supposed to get an actual lipstick lol didn't realise it'll be this sheer.

Boi-ing Hydrating Concealer in shade 1 from Benefit 💸 $35

This was for Ying, b'cos she wanted.

Lipstick from Laura Mercier in shade Dulce De Leche 💸 $42

This is Mummy's.

 Everything costed $130 after the promotion and the gift card; ie $26/item. I wanted to say quite a steal considering the items were from Sephora. But hor, saw this post yesterday on Insta which was quite true LOL

Could have saved that $130 since they're not really urgent needs sigh but ohwells..

Walked around somemore and ended up on Lovisa which we bought earrings LOL The stirling silver collection; 3 for $30

these are mine

Headed home afterwards (omg my feet died by this point) to just have a simple cake cutting ceremony at home hahahh.

Simple 19th and omg 就这样又过一年的生日. Very grateful towards all my friends and relatives and feeling very blessed hehe. 💖💖

Okay guys, I'm very tired of typing this liao LOL okay byeee