Possibly the Best Mookata in Singapore - Moojaa

Battle of the Moo Ka Ta in Singapore

Over the weekend I set out on a MooKata adventure, eating MooKata with my friends from Thailand everyday till we find one that we like. In Thailand, MooKata is very much the social thing, and friends would gather and sit around the pot, talking and having beer. It's one of the more entertaining highlights of eating out in Thailand, and now, it has gotten popular in Singapore as well, with MooKata joints popping up all over. So which is the best I've been to? MooJaa at Keong Saik Rd, due to the service, ambiance, food quality, soup base (with no MSG!) and choice of ingredients. MooJaa is a clear winner, so it wins my full review! What's even better, they close only at 6am, so you can eat there anytime you want, from 11am onwards.

MooJaa at 25 Keong Saik Road, Singapore 089132
Call 6536 4780 for reservations or click here.
(Third place I tried and now it is my favourite!)

MooJaa in Keong Saik Road was a clear winner with the fantastic service - here you see our server placing the food in the pan for us. 

MooJaa has two sauces available, one great for seafood and the other for meat. I also enjoyed the amazing soup (Made from Chicken and Pork) and the really tasty Thai Tea and lemongrass drink. 

One set is $45 but you have the option to get the buffet at just $32 + $5 for free flow of drinks of your choice per person. 

Waiting for the charcoal to arrive felt short, as we had the fish skin and the delicious pork balls with cheese oozing out as a starter. It took about 15 - 20mins for the charcoal to be hot enough for them to bring out the pot of coal and the pan.

Air conditioned, you get to eat in comfort.

Golden Mile Level 1
( First place I tried, No.2 on my list of favourite Moo Ka Ta places )

My thai friends raved about this place in Golden Mile and took me out for dinner. The food was good, and if I didn't try MooJaa, I would think it is probably the best in Singapore. 

The thai tea that they have as well as the flexibility to order thai dishes from the neighbouring stalls were a plus point too. 

Their dipping sauce is spicy with peanuts mashed in, delicious! Service is better if you speak thai, but one set that comprises pork, chicken, seafood, liver and vegetables go for $39 and the portions were really small. 

Reordering pork or liver sets you back by $10 per plate, and the portions are small, so be forewarned. 

Air conditioned but you will sweat while eating.

Geylang Lorong 8
( Second place place I tried and if I return, it would only be for the Fish Head Curry )

We went to look for durian in Geylang and chanced upon the Mookata at Geyland Lorong 8. We waited so long that we ordered their Fish Head curry (FANTASTIC) and were overwhelmed by the HUGE portion of meat thrown haphazardly on top of a mountain of cabbage. 

Mookata was ok, but not as good as their fish head curry. The set here is $39 and the prawns, though big, were not really fresh. It could also be due to the fact that they brought the raw food out of the fridge and set them on our table while waiting for approximately 20mins for the black charcoal to be hot enough.

The staff only speak Mandarin, so if you speak English or Thai, you will probably have to gesture.

Outdoors and set next to the road.

The MooJaa Reveal Review

I went on a "bbq steamboat", "Le Yang" or "Mookata" binge from Sunday to Monday, but it was the very last Mookata Place I went to that really stood out from the rest. MooJaa, pronounced as "Mu Jaaaaaaa", explained in the menu to mean, my "Lovely Pig", a common pet name for couples in love. 

" Moo Ka Ta, for the uninitiated, literally means "Pork Skillet" in Thai and refers to the special cooking apparatus created to enjoy both barbecue and hot pot at the same time. A trough of soup sits on a crock of charcoal, and a dome shaped grill is placed on the trough. This allows the smoke from the charcoal to waft up to the grill, perfuming the meats with some seriously fragrant "wok hei" (wok's breath)."  Written by MooJaa, this accurately sums up what Moo Ka Ta is all about, and at the same time, gives you a little insight into the little details that help set MooJaa apart from the rest of the Moo Ka Ta places in Singapore.

Before walking into MooJaa, I brought my friends on a tour of Chinatown and we walked up the historical Keong Saik Rd  which was really nostalgic especially for me, as I remember coming to one of the houses when they were still houses, as a child of 3 or 4 years old. They were gorgeous and big, but only had one toilet and washing area for the 6 or 8 families living in that huge house in which everyone had one room. The old lady I visited lived in one of the rooms, and I remember her bed was made of wood, with no mattress. While the houses have since been converted to offices, shops and restaurants, the largeness or rather, the depths of the houses remained the same. Keong Saik Road also used to be the "red light district", way before Geylang became popular. I remember as a child, I sat at the entrance of the house marveling at all the pretty "aunties" and "jie jies" that walked in and out of houses marked by red lights or lanterns. Of course, it has radically changed and no semblance of that history is left here.

The place looked classy and when I stepped in, I was wondering how much the meal would cost. I was immediately put at ease after looking at their menu. Both their servers were simply wonderful - they took the time to explain each set, the buffet and then their ala carte dishes. I can't help but wonder if they had a properly scripted explanation, as both described everything systematically and clearly. What is even better, you can log on to their wi-fi network for FREE and order online by keying in menumoo.com on your internet browser. By ordering online, you get a free drink as well! If you would like to check out their menu before heading down, here it is. Click "Like" on their facebook page and get a FREE Cha Yen ( Thai Iced Tea). Coupon instructions appear after clicking Like. Talking about the Cha Yen, it's super tasty with the lovely perfume of black tea sweetened with milk. This has to be the best Facebook page for a restaurant, peppered with special promotions and FREE stuff.

Find out more about the food and experience by clicking read more....

At the heart of MooJaa

I love talking to people, and it is really fantastic that MooJaa staff are all so friendly! I spoke to the charcoal preparing person who took obvious pride in his job and explained that "this charcoal is different, it is very hot and can last 3 to 4 hours if the soup does not overflow onto it". I had to find out more about it, since he was so passionate about his coal. They use the Japanese Binchotan Charcoal which burns for a longer time and without smoke and odours. I was really impressed that MooJaa had 2 dedicated charcoal preparing staff as this shows that they take their coal really seriously.

" I purchase the ingredients personally to ensure quality control. You can buy the same vegetable but only with years of experience can you find the best."

" I have many paper qualifications as a chef, both in Singapore and in Thailand."

"My salary here is good, and I work hard to make the food tasty and memorable with real thai ingredients."

"Mae Krua" (Chef) Nang is another intriguing character. Hailing from the Issan region of Thailand, Buriram, famed for the Som Tam and Kao Niu (Thai salad and sticky glutinous rice), she is so proud of the quality of her food and her ability to create authentic thai dishes that she gave us a little sample of both "Nam Prik Kapi" and "Pla ra Bong". Both Thai friends were instrumental in getting that amazing sauce, as they spoke in Laos (a dialect commonly found in the Issan Region) and were telling her how difficult it is to find real thai food here in Singapore. Pla Ra Bong is rarely found in Singapore, in fact, this is the FIRST and ONLY restaurant we have been to (we've gone to countless thai food places, from cheap to fine dining) that has Pala in their thai salads, making it so authentic that if a Thai from Issan finds out that MooJaa has Pla Ra, you won't be able to get a seat in MooJaa, it would be packed full...at all hours, and they open till 6am!

So what is Pla Ra? Fermented fish sauce, a MUST in Issan cusine but really difficult to get. In fact, when asked how did she manage to get Pla Ra (Suppliers do not carry this!), she happily told us that she brings the precious sauce in when she comes back to Singapore from Thailand. 

We had so much fun talking to her (thankfully there were no other customers in MooJaa except for us - we came at 5pm) that we were sorry to see her get back to work when the customers started pouring in at 5.50pm.

Pla Ra Bong is made by chopping up Pla Ra or fermented fishes and adding other ingredients such as finely sliced galangal, sliced lemon grass, roasted shallots, roasted garlic, finely sliced kaffir lime leaves, tamarind, and ground dried chilli. Pla Ra Bong can be eaten as a side dish with steamed glutionous rice either raw, fried in oil, grilled or roasted.

Nam Prik Kapi literally translated in sauce chilli shrimp, or in simple English, Spicy shrimp sauce. It is slightly salty and quite spicy, best eaten with raw vegetables like long beans and cabbage. Made with fried shrimp paste pounded with chili, garlic and lime juice as its main ingrediants, every Thai loves this.

A happy chef is one who will make the best food, and as the Thais say, you can tell when someone cooks from their heart with all their soul. Nang is certainly happy in MooJaa, her face tells it all...and we, the customers are even happier - the ingredients for the Moo Ka Ta are super fresh and the thai food here is just as amazing as if we flew to Thailand and were eating there. Now, for the final review: Food at MooJaa, in order of their appearance at our table.

Chees balls bursting with cheese were a great start to the entire meal. We came quite hungry, so it's fantastic that these were served with the crispy salmon skin first. (Only when you order the buffet, or if ordered the sets, remember to order these ala carte at just $8 - they are so yummy!

Premium selection at $22, The US Angus Beef slices and the Kurobuta Pork Collar slices - look at the beautiful marbling of the meat. After cooking, both meats were tender to the point that you can almost not chew...but do chew, so that you can get the full flavour of the premium beef and pork. Good beef requires little marination, and those who love their steak will appreciate that these beef slices are not overly marinated. You can choose to dip them in MooJaa's signature sauce or eat it on its own, which I did.

Crispy Salmon Skin were crisp and really good especially if you dip them in MooJaa's signature sauces.

Prawns were superb - sweet and fresh though small. Abalone slices were tender and gave the soup extra flavour. Japanese hotate (scallop) is lovely when grilled and dipped in the tangy green sauce. Pork balls were great in the soup and dipped in either sauce - no unpleasant "porky" taste and just the right bounce. Clams in the soup were so tasty my two male friends ate them all up, and they were surprised that there was no complimentary sand in them. The chicken and the pork had a fantastic marinade with sesame seeds topping of with great flavour. Cheese tofu and "crab sticks" made a good and satisfying partner to the soup.

We had a round of Cha Yen, which is the right balance of black tea and milk. I don't really take very well to spicy food, so the tea quelled the "heat" very nicely indeed.

Tang hoon is a must, and the thais love to mix it up in the dipping sauce...my thai friends loved it in the chili dipping sauce that is slightly sweet and salty all at once. Vegetables were put into the soup portion and they were great with both sauces. Enoki mushrooms - a favourite of everyone at the table was beautifully arranged on the plate and looked really fresh and were smooth and silky after blanching them in the soup.

Earlier, I mentioned the fantastic service by our servers. After bringing the food to our table, and answering our questions, my server proceeded to place the pork fat on the top of the dome shaped grill pan. This is so that the oil will flow down for the meats. The wonderful thing about this design is that all the juices of the meats will be collected in the deep groove at the bottom where you can find the tasty chicken and pork stock soup that is already intense on its own but made even more so by the natural juices of the pork and chicken on the bbq pan. The ingredients to be boiled in the soup were then placed and arranged and the result of that looked so tasty that I almost started eating. The first piece of pork was well done in just under 5mins, and it was tender, juicy and crisp all at once. 

Look at how tasty the beef looks, on top of the BBQ pan. Notice the slight char on my crisp pork slices too!

Slight bbq flavour was perfect with the soft juicy beef - I didn't dip it in any sauce, and grilled in its own juices, this slice of beef was tender with no tendons to distract me from my little slice of heaven.

Verdict: While writing, I am already planning my next visit, where I would be trying their thai dishes made by a passionate chef who brings her own secret stash of thai sauces to Singapore...As for the moo ka ta (Mukata) at MooJaa, it's a definite crowd pleaser. When I was there, I saw many expats, groups of thai as well as a couple of well-informed Singaporean. Thank you Shaun for the invite - I definitely will be back real soon! The menu has improved since my last visit in October 2012, and I am glad that after more than a year, I have rediscovered your restaurant. The only thing that didn't change is your impeccable service, Kudos to your staff for the enjoyable dining experience at MooJaa.

GOSH! I just realized how long this post is! If you have enjoyed reading this, do comment and let me know if I should write shorter posts!

Those who managed to read everything, here's an extra bonus from MooJaa! Get a $20 voucher from MooJaa FREE if you are the chosen winner to get these three questions right - Just fill the form up and click submit!

Congrats to Jimmy Wong for winning the $20 MooJaa Voucher!

Post by Vivien Goh.