Wandering Fel

 July is soon coming to an end and my contract in Tanjong Pagar is ticking out. I figure this is the time to implement “try new food as much as you can” while you are still working in town. The thing is I realise that I did try to tighten my wallet when I was not working and looking back at those freedom (and yet, penniless) days, I did not feel like trying out a lot of new food especially that need special effort from me to (a) travel for quite a distance from my house and (b) costs a lot. 

Although to be honest, having a job does not mean you shall splurge either. I have decided to live moderately (and even frugally at times). So with that being said, Tuesday menu for dinner is obviously another takeaway food because eating in front of tv (or in my case, an ipad) rocks! I went to Chinatown at lunch time to buy hazelnut milk tea from woobbee actually and that’s when I passed by Kazo. 

This is not the first time I pass by Kazo but today is the day I finally decide to give it a try. In addition, it’s very tiring to think about what to eat for dinner after a zumba class so I figure I might find something which is good enough to be eaten as dinner. That’s when I saw the huge polo puffs. Compared to Beard Papa, I don’t think the price difference is that huge and the filling of those polo puffs are so interesting. Well, maybe except chocolate. I mean chocolate is good but it’s so normie, there’s no way you will be surprised by chocolate. 

So I chose Hokkaido cream because anything that have the word “Hokkaido” should at least taste good. The funny thing though Kazo is actually set up in Taiwan. Well, some netizen say that Kazo is the direct competitor of Zaku Zaku or something in Japan. So maybe their taste is close enough? I don’t know if Zaku Zaku sells polo puff though. Oh maybe it’s more similar to Hattendo at Tanjong Pagar Centre. 

There is an instruction to keep the puff in the fridge if you don’t consume it within 3 hours after purchase. But, putting food in office’s shared fridge is uhh...undesirable for me because there’s this stone-faced pantry lady who seem to guard the fridge like a hawk. I don’t even feel like coming to the pantry sometimes. Why can’t she be more friendly? Oh well, some people simply can’t get along with certain people. So my puff is left on my table as it is and even withstood the gym locker until it’s time for the puff to be consumed...8 hours later. 

Thankfully, the Hokkaido Cream puff (SGD 3) that I bought still looks okay in terms of texture. For a safe measure, I did put it in the fridge for a good 10 minutes before consumption and it tastes so good. I was kinda worried the cream will not be a lot since the puff looks pretty huge but I was wrong. It was moderately filled and the Hokkaido cream taste is pretty good (albeit sweet). I’m so gonna try the golden lava puff for my second trip to Kazo. Yumz. 

 I have included Tanuki Raw in my to-eat-list for I don’t know how long but finally after a long wait (and partly due to my own laziness), I managed to make bae to bring me there. We reached Tanuki Raw after our movie date with Skyscraper (which is unbelievable and yet very entertaining movie, but then again which movie is believable nowadays) at 7PM on Saturday evening and there is a queue line forming in front of the restaurant. Oh no. 

Thankfully, even though the restaurant looks pretty small from outside, there are many seats available inside the restaurant. We just needed to wait for around 15 minutes and the waiter assigned us two seats at the bar area. I enjoy sitting at the bar area because I can see how the bartender making cocktail and if you loves to enjoy your alcohol intake (SGD 10) with fresh oysters (SGD 2 for limited 6 pieces per drink order), you may want to grab the happy hours deal (5PM - 8PM daily). 

A lot of people comes to Tanuki Raw to enjoy the happy hour only but I came with different mission: to eat the famous Truffle Yakiniku. Regular Truffle Yakiniku costs 18 SGD however, with just additional 5 SGD you will get a piece of pan-seared foie gras which literally just melts in your mouth. Fresh truffles will cost you additional 7 SGD so since my cheapskate standard has reached its limit, I gave this a pass.

It seems that Tanuki Raw loves to play around with its menu because they have the “New Kids on the Block” section on its menu featuring the latest creation that the restaurant chefs made. Bae opted for the yuzu pepper katsu don and Tanuki Raw was so generous on the katsu pieces. However, I personally feel that the star of the dish is the yuzu sauce. The problem is I love my truffle yakiniku bowl so much, my tastebud is overpowered by it so I could not taste the yuzu pepper katsu don properly. However, bae seems to enjoy it just fine so all is well I suppose. 

Water is provided for free so if you don’t feel like ordering any drink, you’ll survive. The restaurant can be a bit too noisy to have a good chat though. We literally could hear the whole conversation that our neighbours were having (especially after their alcohol orders have been consumed). So Tanuki Raw is not a place where you can have a quiet conversation unless you manage to get the al fresco seats, maybe. But I kinda doubt it will be less noisy out there. 

I would love to go to Tanuki Raw during lunch hours to enjoy their lunch deals starting from 12 SGD++. Should I go there tomorrow?

 I am kinda excited to start this new lifestyle breakthrough: eating alone 1x a week without ordering a takeaway. I suppose the older I become, the more embracing I become toward this independent solo lifestyle. Maybe being an introvert helps? Hahaha I’m not really sure to be honest with you but there is something addictive about eating with yourself. 

Of course for this new experience, I will not expose myself to “hostile” environment toward solo dining. So I chose one of the easy restaurants to have my solitude lunching experience, Saboten Express. The non-express outlets of Saboten offer more expensive menu which is kinda outside of my weekday lunch budget but they sure looks so yummylicious though. Okay refocusing on the express version of Saboten here...

Basically Saboten Express is actually designed as a takeaway place but it has few seats (albeit not many) in its small unit in the basement level of Raffles City. It also offers single seats facing...uhm not really the wall, but the partition between Saboten Express and KOI. I’m so tempted to make order of bubble tea via the partition but I suppose they won’t let me order by this backhanded manner. Saboten Express have a few set menu but since I’m a cheapska...ahem, frugal lady (payday still far away), I ordered the cheapest set on the menu i.e. chicken and loin katsu set at SGD 10.90. The set comes with miso soup and green tea (sachet) so I’ll be good for a while here. While it is the cheapest, the chicken and loin katsu taste oh-so-yummy and it comes with Japanese rice, salad, and the fantastic katsu and salad sauce. Yummy yummy~

Since the katsu(s) have been fried beforehand, I don’t have to wait for a long time before my order arrive (yeay!). Plus, since I chose the seat facing the wall, I don’t really have to deal with people staring. But at the same time, I can’t do people-watching too. I suppose there’s always two sides of the same coin. Hahaha. 

VERDICT: Yummy food, seats catered for solo diners, reasonable price, airconditioned, nobody give a look when I take picture of Cony. Saboten Express is approved by anti-social Fel.