[Media Invite] King's Laksa Steamboat @ 17 Teck Chye Terrace

Steamboat, we have eaten alot. What is your favourite soup base? Soup base such as chicken, tomato, mala soup are the common ones. How about laksa? At King's Laksa Steamboat, you can have that along with chicken/mala/herbal soup, and buffet-styled. On top of that, it offers tasty cooked food such as har jeong gai (prawn paste chicken wings), fried tofu, luncheon meat, spring-rolls, tiny fish balls and mini man-tous. Wow, and the price per adult is just $26.80++ for dinner with dining duration of 120 minutes. Really 一个价钱，吃到饱! Last order for dinner is 10pm. And, did I mention there's free flow drinks, ice-cream and pudding too?

after that, will diet?

Location wise, it is somewhere near Boundary Road, Serangoon area. Within 10 minutes walking distance from Serangoon NEX. The dining area is pretty spacious. However, the buffet and drinks area is narrow, so it could be rather cramped when many wants to take their food or drinks.

dining area

buffet counter

drinks area

There is calamansi, sour plum and water chestnut drink from the dispenser. Otherwise, bottled unsweetened oolong (for sharing) is also available.

The main items could be ordered via an order plastic sheet. Just tick whichever items that you fancy, indicate table number and portions to order. Must-orders for cooked food are the prawn paste chicken wings, the fried tofu and man-tou. For the raw food, must-orders are the flower crab, pork belly, fish dumplings and squid.

let's start with these

all ready

We had the laksa and chicken soup bases in our yin-yang pot. Happy to see fried pig's skin and fried beancurd skin for the laksa broth. So matching!

mushrooms and vegetables from the self-service section

The portion of meat was generous but most were lean meat, hence, try not to overcook them otherwise, it would be pretty tough to chew. I liked the thinly sliced pork belly the most as it had a softer texture than the chicken (breast meat only) and the beef (no fats!). The lamb was special and cut into pretty tiny pieces. Gamey but not overly tough.

bubbling away

While the raw ingredients are getting their sauna bath, munch of the freshly cooked items. For lovers of luncheon meat, you can eat till your heart's content. Liked the fried tofu too. It was drizzled with sweet Thai chili sauce.

repeated orders for this!

belachan chili for the prawn paste chicken wings

deep fried platter - prawn paste chicken wings, luncheon meat and fried fishballs

fried tofu with sweet thai chili sauce

fried man-tou that's good on its own

The flower crabs were fresh and cooks easily in the boiling hot broth. Enjoyed it and it was on our repeat order. Loved the smooth texture of the fish dumplings. So good but we discovered it a tad late, meaning, we were too full!

flower crabs

fish paste dumplings (foreground) and beef (background)

The secret to the laksa broth was of the more premium dried shrimps used. The laksa broth was rich and full-bodied. It could get rather salty towards the end, so it would be best to kept it topped up. It wasn't spicy, so it can be enjoyed by most.

the secret

One tip when ordering meat is to order about half the number of pax. If not enough, then order again. This will keep the meat fresh and not sitting on the table for too long.

After all the heaty fried food, it was time to cool down with ice-cream. The ice-cream is located at the cashier. There are about 5 flavours; corn, yam, mint, chocolate, and strawberry. My favourite was the yam.

ice-cream!

Thank you Ivan for the invite and King's Laksa Steamboat for hosting the tasting.

King's Laksa Steamboat website: https://kinglaksa.com

[Media Invite] Siam Mookata @ 83-85 Pasir Panjang Road

Located at an old school coffeeshop, Siam Mookata offers casual Thai steamboat & BBQ option to those who seeks it. The coffeeshop that houses it is called Par Shi Coffeeshop.

Siam Mookata

The specialty for Siam Mookata would be in its house concocted chili sauce. Not too overpowering and was a good accompaniment to the grilled meats. You could also order up a cool Thai Ice Tea to quench those fires.

special chili sauce

Thai Ice Tea @$3.50

For a group of 3 to 4 pax, the platter for 4 ($39.90) offers enough variety in that there's pork, chicken, prawns and squid. The types of cut included pork belly, marinted chicken thigh in garlic and marinated pork in black pepper. There were some crab stick and sausages too. The vegetable basket contained enough greens (bok choy) and chinese cabbage, and a bunch of golden mushrooms. Enough lard was provided to oil the grill. The stall provided a large container of chicken broth for our use. Quite liked the soup!

ready to start

One could also do ala-carte order of the Special Pork Belly (marinated). The marinade for this was really light though.

Special Pork Belly @$7.90

It was fun having Mookata with friends. Conversations flowed while the food cooked slowly. The prawns were of a good size, firm and fresh but it was too much of a hassle to eat.

let's eat

do you prefer it bbq'ed or in the soup?

The vegetable basket did contain tanghoon but if you need more carbs, you could also do ala-carte orders of rice or mama noodles. Nothing beats having the tanghoon though. Slurpiliciously good!

mama noodle @$1.50

Expect to spend about $17 per pax for a platter with additional top-up of pork liver and special pork belly, and a cold drink.

Also watch out for Hungrygowhere deals. Just so you know, till 31 March diners gets 50% off total dining bill at Siam Mookata when booked via Hungrygowhere. Terms and conditions applies.

Special thanks to Siam Mookata and HGW for the invite.

Charcoal Thai @ Simon Road

Located at Simon Road, just next door to the popular Lola's Cafe. It is actually within 6 minutes of walking distance from Kovan MRT.With wet weather nowadays, you'll definitely need an umbrella otherwise, risk getting drenched while awaiting for the traffic light to turn green.

Haven't had a mookata since... well, forever. Last that we had was the one at Dickson Road, and that was a couple of years ago, back in 2011!

Visited on a Friday evening, and indoor lighting was pretty dim.
 

Mookata set @$39.90++

Service was pretty slow that night. Place seemed crowded during dinner hours but had quietened by 9pm.

Wasn't there when my friends ordered ahead but think we had a set for 2 pax. There were sausages, luncheon meat, chicken and pork, crabstick and meatballs. There were few prawns as well. The set came with a small separate basket of chinese cabbage, rice vermicelli (tanghoon) and bok choi.

add-on meat @$11.90++

So we oiled the mookata by frying up the lard cubes and moved it all over the grill. But, the meats still sticks and got burnt. Haha!


Also tried their ala-carte tom yum soup which came in a small clay pot, and loaded with squids and some prawns.

seafood tomyum clear soup @$11.90++

Soup was fantastically hot and with the right sour notes. Good to have on a cold night, but it made us hungrier.

Tried a couple of ala-carte items. Had the minced pork omelette which was quite nice, thai sweet and sour tofu which was enjoyable (but secretly wished that it was sweet and sour pork instead).

The calamari squid actually contained other fried items such as baby corn and onions. Was just average.

calamari squid @$12.90++

Also tried two types of fried rice; Seafood and Olive. Olive fried rice was bland, and lacked the olive fragrance while the seafood fried rice was tasty and flavourful with adequate seafood thrown in. Go for the seafood fried rice, if you must eat rice.

Olive fried rice @$9.90++

Seafood fried rice @$10.90++

There was a Standard Chartered credit card promo then, and we got 10% discount off. Total bill for 6 pax came up to $145.

Happy 2015 everyone!

Manbok 만복 Chinatown Korean BBQ & Steamboat Buffet Restaurant @ Chinatown

Was invited to try Manbok, located at 279 New Bridge Road. Took bus #143 and alighted after Chinatown Point. At the bus stop, turn right and walk along the pathway. Its name Manbok 만복 can be translated as 万福.

korean buffet, 가자 !

Buffet is priced at $29++ for dinner, with free beer promo for each diner if you come in groups of 4.

table for 4 pax, with grill plate, smoke suction and small stove for steamboat

Here are some pictures of the BBQ and steamboat ingredients.

ingredients for budae jigae (army stew or steamboat items section)

seafood items (clams, mussels, prawns, squid)

meat galore~

free flow soft-drinks

The uncooked meat section was interesting. First time seeing beef brisket and beef plate in this section.

first plate - brisket, short-ribs, marinated pork collar and pork belly

pork belly and short-ribs in progress

The beef short-ribs were well marinated, though a tad sweet. Nice to chew on.

kimchi to break the monotony

While waiting for the meat to grill, one could also enjoy the cooked food that's quite well prepared by their Korean chef. Fried chicken wings? Oh, yes.

sweet sauce coated fried chicken wings

fried rice

kimchi pajeon

japchae

The fried rice has just abit of heat to spice it up, very zhichar styled and loaded with small shrimps. Had it while it was still hot. Yums. Chicken wings were fried till outer skin was crispy, and coated with sweet sauce. As usual, am biased towards chicken wings. The tiny-cut kimchi pancake was likeable too.

one plate is never enough

Korean beer

The cooked food section may see its selection changes on a monthly basis. According to the restaurant owner, this is to give diners something new to look forward to during their subsequent visits.

spicy seafood stew

more meat, please

Bottled makgeolli is available and it's really easy to drink. Big bites of grilled meat, and big gulp of makgeolli!

big sips of korean rice wine 막걸리

eat, drink and be merry

If one had a bottle too many, a pot of budae jigae may help to settle the tummy a little. The soup was a light clam-based stock, available in a plastic jug to do a self-service top-up at your own table. Add own guestimate of pepper paste to the steamboat pot, and the usuals for budae jigae: spam, sausages, instant noodles, cabbage, mushrooms etc.

gently slide in raw egg onto the army stew

voila~ steaming hot pot of budae jigae

For desserts, there's fruits and mini ice-cream tubs.

icy cold choco ending

Overall, pretty good value for money especially the *free beer promo. Adequate selection of cooked food with some choice items, and since it's a buffet, one could eat as much meat that they can. I'd pick the marinated pork collar, pork belly and beef short-ribs.

Thank you HGW for the invite and Mr Tan, for hosting us.

Manbok Chinatown Korean BBQ & Steamboat Buffet Restaurant

Location: 279, North Bridge Road, Singapore 088752
Contact No. ： 6557 0939
Website：http://manbokinc.wix.com/manbok