Who founded 888 Mookata?
888 Mookata is widely known to be recently founded by Chew Chor Meng and Zhou Chongqing (Auntie Lucy). It is situated near Heartland Mall in Kovan. I grew up watching Chew Chor Meng and currently, I am supporting our local sitcom "118" everyday at 7.30pm, starring, yes you guessed it, Chew Chor Meng and Zhou Chongqing. It was my first time eating Mookata in Singapore. My first experience was at some supposedly famous Mookata restaurant in Bangkok and it was horrible. 888 Mookata was a more delicious experience and overall, it was an enjoyable night.
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| Jiak Ah! |
How to order like a Pro (professional) at 888 Mookata?
When we arrived, we saw Chew Chor Meng taking orders. He was extremely busy. To avoid feeling like a noob, this is what you should do.
1. Find a table on your own. Chew Chor Meng will repeat this instruction when you approach him.
2. Find a table not beyond The Pillar. Apparently, the tables after The Pillar "belong" to the Zi Char. I find this ridiculous btw. If a stall is doing roaring business, shouldn't the Kopi Tiam give more tables to the stall with more business?
3. Sit down and think about what you want to order. As noobs, we ordered the Platter for 4 (S$45) mentally.
4. Now, it is time to approach Chew Chor Meng if he happens to be the one taking orders at the stall. Tell him where you are sitting and your orders.
5. Proceed to the cashier to pay.
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| Platter for 4 - Seafood, hot dog, fishballs, crabsticks, chicken, pork, pork belly |
How to eat like a Pro at 888 Mookata?
The Platter for 4 has 4 scallops, 4 tiger prawns and 4 mussels. This is a very important piece of information because if you do the Math, everyone only has 1 of each. The seafood items were very fresh. No beef was served. Mookata is actually a Thai style of eating sliced meat, usually pork, on a dome, traditionally grilled over charcoal. The grill at 888 Mookata, of course, had no charcoal, but it was very efficient. It managed to char the meat and seafood very quickly.
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| Tom Yum Instant Noodles, Eggs, Vegetables, Corn, Tang Hoon |
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| Carlsberg and Asahi |
The Kopi Tiam Beer Ladies were selling beers. We ordered 1 bottle of Carlsberg and Asahi. They were placed in a bucket of ice and every now and then, the glasses were refilled by the Beer Ladies. Mookata can be very heaty and beer is very cool, neutralising the heaty effects.
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| Sour and very Spicy |
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| Sweet and Sour |
To enjoy your Mookata, make sure you dip your grilled meat in the sour and very spicy chili sauce. I am not a very spicy person so I mixed the sauces.
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| Every table was given a jug of soup refill. |
After the first round of grilling and eating, it was time to add the instant noodles into the soup. By now, the meat on the grill would have achieved a charred fragrance. It was time to pour the soup refill onto the meat and allow the fragrance from the dome to be infused into the surrounding soup.
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| Tom Yum |
We added the Tom Yum seasoning and chili paste into the soup. I enjoyed eating the sweet crabsticks and fishballs. They tasted differently from the usual ones I ate. Among the meat, ooooo, I loved the yummy grilled pork belly. I loved all the seafood items.
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| Meat Platter S$10.80 |
We wanted to carry on eating so we ordered another Meat Platter. The luncheon meat was very delicious, best compliment with instant noodles.
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| Eggy Tom Yum |
By now, we were rather full. We placed all the meat onto the grill and cracked eggs into the Tom Yum soup. It was very eggy and delicious.
How to avoid disappointment?
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| Posing with customers for a shot |
As Chew Chor Meng has been in the showbiz business for a long time, many local celebrities turned up to support him. The very young generation might not know him and his colleagues but your parents and grandparents who support local Chinese TV will definitely be very excited. The boss himself, was very obliging. Many customers took photos with him. That night, we saw Belinda Lee, Huang Shufang and her family, Eelyn Kok, Zhu Houren, Cassandra See and even Hong Rong! Hong Rong still looks good for his age. Oops.
At this point, I cannot help but feel a little sad at the same time, because if my parents were still by my side, they would definitely be over the moon eating Mookata and checking out the local celebrities who might pop by!
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| Star studded night |
I wish all the 888 Mookata staff great wealth and good health! Huat Huat Huat!
Overall 4/5
Food 4/5 Price 3/5 Service 4/5 Variety 4/5 Ambience 3/5 Sassiness 4/5
Address: 212 Hougang Street 21
Hours: Open today · 5PM–2AM
Phone: 9656 2655
