Western BBQ, Chinese BBQ, Korean BBQ, yes yes yes, but Thai style Barbeque? That’s something different in Singapore, and Mookata shops (which means pork skillet or pork fryer) is opening up in places from Katong, Golden Mile to Keong Siak Road.
If you have eaten one of these barbecue hot-pot combination in the streets of Bangkok and Chiangmai, you will certainly want to crave for more.
MooJaa which has recently opened at Keong Siak Street (a few shops away from Keong Siak Snacks and diagonally opposite Kok Sen) has been attracting Thai patrons and groups of friends visiting because it reminds them of home.
The Mookata apparatus looks like a combination of the Korean BBQ with Chinese steamboat, where you grill the meat on a dome with soup surrounding it. The soup brewed by chicken and pork bone, is heated by a whiter looking Binchotan Japanese charcoal which creates less soot and also cooks more evenly.
If ordering Ala Carte is too troublesome, I would suggest going for the Set Moo (pork) or Set Gai (chicken) which comes with meat slices, prawn, pork balls, squid, hot dog, golden mushroom, vermicelli, xiao bai cai and kang kong which can feed two. Quite generous portions for its price of $39.90. (I would have thought ‘Moo’ would mean ‘cow’. Haha.)
Two things I noticed: The meat does not get ‘chao tar’ (burnt) easily, and the entire restaurant stays surprisingly smoke-free unlike some places where you leave smelling like a chimney or roast.
Some of the must-order side dishes are the Fish Skin ($6) and Cheese Ball ($8). Try soaking the fish skin in the soup for a few seconds and you will land up with a part-crisp part-soggy tasty combination. And the hot cheese that oozes out of the balls is ooh-laa-laa yummy.
MooJaa’s winning formula has to be the two dipping sauces – one spicy BBQ and the other sweet and sour seafood – which is said to be created from 31 different ingredients. A little suggestion, I would certainly like to see Tom Yum soup or Tom Yum sauce options one day.
MooJaa actually means “My lovely pig”, and the owner got inspired after he saw a girl poke her boyfriend’s belly after a meal. My belly definitely got bigger and rounder after this Moojaa meal. Burp!
Christmas Giveaway – MooJaa Set Meals vouchers!
MooJaa will be giving 2 sets of Set Moo or Set Gai meals to 2 lucky Daniel’s Food Diary readers. Each meal is for two persons.
All you need to do is to
Step 1: LIKES the FaceBook pages of Daniel’s Food Diary
Step 2: SHARE this post on Facebook
Step 3: Leave a comment below to name your favourite BBQ grill or hotpot ingredient you would like to see at MooJaa
Results will be announced Fri 14 Dec 2012. Contest winners must have local Singapore addresses.
MooJaa Singapore No.1 Mookata
25 Keong Siak Road Singapore 089132 (15 min walk from Tanjong Pagar MRT), Tel: +65 6536 4780
Opening Hours: Lunch 11am – 2pm (Mon-Fri), Dinner 5pm – 11pm (Mon-Sun)
Other Thai Food Entries
Sweet Salty Spicy (Rail Mall)
Baan Tong Thai (Tiong Bahru)
First Thai (Purvis Street)
Suan Thai Restaurant (Killiney Road)
Porn’s (Liang Seah)
