Tanoshii @ Cairnhill

Looking for a place to gather for a drink and small bites during the Lunar New Year without the next table doing lohei? Look no further, as this Korean-Japanese izakaya can satisfy all the requirements.

Behind the fashionable Paragon at the edge of Cairnhill Road, you would notice a group of pre-war Peranakan houses congregated amidst all the modern condominiums. And the end of this stretch of houses is Tanoshii, a Korean-Japanese fusion izakaya.

Inside, the restaurant looks more snazzy and modern than the exterior suggests, looking like a Japan funk-inspired bar with bold lightings. Tanoshii has a good collection of sake and shochu, including some limited editions one.

In the middle of the bar counter is a tempura deep fryer copper vat, making one assume this is either a tempura- or kushikatsu-ya. Although it calls itself a Japanese restaurant, Tanoshii’s menu reflects an eclectic mix of Korean and even French dishes. 

We were showed our seats in the six seater booth. I was not sure how much privacy was there, but we cannot see others, others cannot see us. However I was pretty sure we were too loud after a few rounds of drinks.

Uni Ikura Cold Noodles 

Cold noodles with truffle oil and topped with ikura and uni

Excellent! What a start to the drink session. The cold noodles had a faint truffle flavour, which was good as it did not overpower the umami of the seaweed and sea urchin. Ikura was a nice touch.

Osaka Chicken Nanba

As Osaka’s a representative chicken dish, chicken legs are marinated in various spices and milk for two days, fried in kushikatsu oil, seasoned once more with a special original soy sauce, and eaten with homemade tartar sauce.

Inspired by Portuguese cuisine, chicken nanban is crispy chicken dressed with a tangy sauce and served with homemade tartar sauce. The main difference between nanban and karaage is that nanban requires the fried chicken to be dipped in sauce before serving, and karaage (marinade, coat then fried) is complete reverse of this process. If you do not like wet fried chicken, they have the karaage version too.

Escargot

After boiling live escargot with various herbs and white wine for 3 hours, apply homemade herb butter which is made of garlic, shallots, fresh parsley, butter and white wine and oven cook for 15 minutes. TANOSHII uses only live escargot grown from a farm in Jeju Island.

The dish features live escargots from Jeju Island simmered in rich chicken stock for hours to tenderise the meat and infuse it with flavour. The shells are filled with herb butter for a fresh garden aroma. The fresh escargots make a noticeable difference compared to frozen ones typically served elsewhere.

Osaka Okonomiyaki

Osaka style of pancake, using TANOSHII special dough mixed with shrimp, cabbage, egg, pork and seafood and grilled on iron plate. Special okonomiyaki sauce and katsuobushi are added on top.

I wasn’t a big fan of okonomiyaki, but it was something that’s a must order for a drinking session to share. The okonomiyaki has a crispy exterior, flavours were familiar, there’s nice pieces of prawn and squid inside, and interior was soft. It’s not authentic, but it stayed true to the spirit of okonomiyaki, and execution was not bad too.

Ponzu Oysters

Fresh Japanese oysters slightly boiled with cooking sake and dip into house-made ponzu sauce

I could not tell that these oysters were lightly poached before serving. They were big molluscs and were delicious in that ponzu sauce.

Ebi Tempura

Large-sized shrimp coated in breadcrumbs and deep-fried in kushikatsu oil. Served with cabbage, tonkatsu sauce, truffle mayo and salt.

The tempura fryer at the bar counter was put to great use with these ebi tempura. While the batter was not the traditional style, but these were one of the better ebi fitters I had in a bar for a long time.

Nagoya Tebasaki Wings

Seasoned chicken wings aged for 2 days are deep-fried in kushikatsu oil, then coated in black pepper & special home-made soy sauce. The most famous fried chicken wings in Nagoya, Japan.

I remembered buying a box of Nagoya chicken wings on the way back to Tokyo to enjoy on the Shinkansen, and was surprised that they were double-cooked – fried and then cooked in a soy dressing. So I was surprised by the texture when these arrived. These delicious Nagoya-style fried chicken wings were crispy and succulent with a savoury-sweet garlic soy dressing. 

Ponzu Mero

Oven-roasted fatty mero meat served with homemade ponzu sauce

In Latin America, the grouper fish is known as ‘mero‘, and more specifically the one served was giant grouper 龍躉 long dun. You can be forgiven if you thought it was piece of cod, yes, it was that fatty.

Edamame Truffle

Boiled peas and stir-fried then seasoning with truffle salt and truffle oil.

Boiled edamame dressed in black truffle oil, great snack while we chatted.

Jeju Abalone Porridge

Using only on Jeju island, Korea of abalone, which is over 100g per each. Abalone porridge has a powerful flavour since 10 abalone intestines are used to make a single Abalone Porridge.

Saving the best for last. This abalone porridge was a stunner! The umami from the abalone intestines was what you paid for. The portion was enough for sharing among four persons, and this was such a delightful end of a hard day’s night.

The Japanese word tanoshii means pleasant or delightful. There were really some delightful items on the menu. The sukiyaki smell from the next table was wonderful – something to try for another time. Nice ambience, and good cold drinks. Just a bit of a challenge to get a parking nearby. But remember – drink don’t drive.

Tanoshii Japanese Restaurant
56 Cairnhill Road Singapore 229667
Tel : +65 6219 3482

Visited Feb 2024

@tanoshiisg