– Tasting Invite –
I believe we are all very familiar with Korean barbeque and Chinese steamboat. Have you ever wondered what would happen if you were to combine these two? You get Mookata, which is Thai BBQ steamboat! Apparently, this can be found everywhere in Bangkok, but for some reason, we did not come across any Mookata places when we went there last year. Thanks to MooJaa Mookata, we had our first ever Mookata experience and it is definitely not the last!
MooJaa Mookata is located at Chinatown and the place is actually quite well-ventilated.
We had a glass of Thai Ice Tea ($2.50) while we waited patiently for our food to be served. It tasted like our local tea with milk except that it was sweeter and so much thicker and creamier!
Shaun shared with us that traditionally Japanese Binchotan white charcoal is used which does not produce soot like black charcoal does and does not cause food to turn acidic.
A piece of pork lard is placed on top of the skillet, which is the dome-shaped metal pan seen in the above. As the pork lard begins to melt and grease up the pan, you can start your BBQ partaaay! At the same time, you can fill the steamboat with ingredients such as vegetables and pork balls when the broth in the trough starts to boil.
The Fish Skin ($6) had been deep fried and it was very crispy. Shaun taught us an interesting way of eating it which was to place it in the broth for a few seconds. The fish skin soaked up the flavorful broth and tasted even better, while still retaining a slight crisp!
If having to decide from the À la carte menu is too much of a hassle for you, there are 4 types of Mookata Sets for you to choose from, inclusive of a $32+/diner buffet. We were given the chance to sample half of Set Moo ($45) and Set Gai ($45), so what you see in the above photo makes one full set (sorry there was significantly more meat but Shaun had already placed them on the pan before I could stop him). Each set can feed 2 people. To make things simple for you, both sets consist of prawns, pork balls, squid, scallops, crab meat, abalone slices, golden mushroom, vermicelli, xiao bai cai and kang kong. The only difference between both sets is that Set Moo has pork collar slices while Set Gai has boneless chicken slices.
The 2-in-1 BBQ and steamboat experience was superb and we were kept busy the entire time! As you can see, there wasn’t much space for us to BBQ the meat and because of its dome shape, the meat slided into our soup on a few occasions when we were not careful.
The trick here is not to keep flipping the meat if not it will crumble into smaller pieces very easily.
As for the steamboat, we loved the broth which was sweet tasting and very flavorful after being brewed for about 5 hours. The scary part? It was when all the oil and grease from the barbequed meats start to trickle down into the soup. It is said to make the soup even tastier which I have to agree but it does sound artery clogging as well!
The Cheese Balls ($8) were not included in the set but they are highly recommended. No you don’t eat them straight like that even though I got too carried away with the barbeque-ing and popped one into my mouth. Zzz.
In order to achieve the hot molten cheese effect, simply allow the cheese balls to boil for a while in the broth. The result was simply marvellous! Shaun told us that he once had a female customer who ordered 31 plates of cheese balls and ate them all by herself. Yes, thirty one. It is THAT good.
We also sampled the Kurobuta Pork Collar Slice ($22) which is an absolute must order if you love kurobuta.
Just look at those beautiful marbled fats!
This bowl of rice was not the main star but it played its supporting role really well. This is not ordinary plain white rice but white rice cooked with vegetable stock. Surprisingly fragrant and tasty!
Not forgetting the dipping condiments too! Spicy BBQ was actually not too spicy and a little sweet. I kinda liked the Sweet Sour Seafood Sauce better which is not something you can easily get elsewhere or replicate. It is made from 30 different ingredients imported from Thailand.
We were really really stuffed by the time we were done eating! Of course, misterchewy and I enjoyed our first Mookata experience 🙂
Bumped into a fellow blogger Ruiting!
In case you are wondering, “MooJaa” is an affectionate term in Thai which translates to “my lovely pig” and it is used when lovers put on weight during the course of their relationship, which is probably accompanied with a bit of belly poking 😛
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MooJaa Mookata Thai BBQ Steamboat
25 Keong Saik Road
Singapore 089132
Tel: 6536 4780
Opening hours:
Mon to Sat
11am – 2pm (excluding Sat)
5pm – 6am
Sun
5pm – 11pm
