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Trust me; Thailand style steamboat-and-barbecue is going to be the next big thing in Singapore's dynamic food scene! The sign was clear - a queue even though it was already past dinnertime at 8.30pm!
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It would be extremely desirable to have Thai cuisine in its native country [Thailand, in case you are unaware] but in Singapore, there is one such place where you can have your fix of authentic yet economical Thai food; Golden Mile Complex.
Apart from being located in an authentic site, Mookata New Udon Thai Food restaurant is also often mentioned when it comes to Thai style steamboat-and-barbecue!
Ordering was fuss free - order one standard set that came with a variety of ingredients. Insufficient? Just top up individual ingredients which were priced separately.
Standard Set - for a person who has been spoiled with Chinese steamboat buffet style, the servings appeared to be a tad too little.
Protein ingredients included squid, marinated pork, marinated chicken, pork liver, prawns, hotdog, crabstick and fishballs (beef was included but our dear lala doesn't eat the red meat so we chose to swap).
Guess you don't need further introduction on the vegetables.
Rice was charged on a per bowl basis although you can get your carbohydrates from the beehoon. That plastic pack of whitish stuff contained a sinfully rich component!
Steamboat and BBQ Equipment - the charcoal powered appliance has a weird dome in the middle where you barbecue your meat and a surrounding moat that holds the water for steamboat.
Begin by placing the whitish stuff on the BBQ dome for lubricating purpose just like the way we use butter and oil on the griddle. By the way, the 'sinfully rich' stuff is raw pork lard!!! Yummy!
Unique this equipment definitely is although its design can be frustrating for non-native users! The narrow strip of water made it difficult to put in big-leaf vegetables and the convex shape of the BBQ plate meant that some of the food would occasionally slide into the boiling soup!
To be fair, the ingredients were fresh and the most important factor for me to revisit was the marinated meat.
Unlike Korean BBQ, the marination was not as intense even though i actually prefer the taste of natural meat juices that was enhanced with the nutty flavour of sesame seeds.
There is a second reason for me to make a return trip to Mookata - the chilli sauce! I could not really describe the taste except it was like the spicier version of the popular Kimball Thai Chilli Sauce mixed with a generous amount of sesame seeds!
Using charcoal powered equipment has a problem; smoke. Depending on where you sit, this would be an issue of irritation to your eyes. Bring along a set of new clothing if you are thinking of going somewhere else after your meal; the smell lingering on my clothes was bad.
Health conscious individuals would not take kindly to the above sight! Hence, i have made the executive decision not to bring my dad to Mookata; a bloody risk i am not willing to take!
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Location
5001, Beach Road, #01-66B,
Golden Mile Complex
Price
Standard Set - S$39
Rice - S$1 a bowl
Drink - typically S$1.50 each
[No GST and No Service Charge]
Additional Information
Don't order too much in the beginning as you can always request for top up of the ingredients when you have depleted everything from the standard set. As i said before, top-ups were charged separately; in the case of our extra serving of marinated chicken, it was priced at S$10.