Canton Paradise, i12 Katong

I visited Canton Paradise at i12 Katong a long awhile ago but I procrastinated blogging about it because it left such a poor memory. Generally, I am more fond of sharing good food and awesome experiences as compared to lousy places and wasted calories.

Canton Paradise is an exemplary example of wasted calories. The restaurant, situated in the basement of i12 Katong, boasts a sleek clean deco with a dark interior and nice plush seats. The only perk is that they serve dim sum for dinner, which is quite a rare thing as most dim sum restaurants stop serving dim sum after lunch. However, I assure you, the only perk ends there. I would definitely try to control my dim sum craving in future and visit either East Ocean or Imperial Treasure over the weekend instead.

The egg tart was hard and cold and it lacked the usual flaky crust that I enjoy. The char siew baked bun was probably the only thing in the entire meal that was passable. The crust was kind of thick but it tasted pretty all right. 

The shrimp dumpling (har gao) had a very thick "skin" and the prawn within was not big and juicy like how good dim sum should be. The fried shrimp roll was very dry and I had the same grouse about the prawn - it was not juicy at all! The cheong fun (rice roll) was average but really, how could you go wrong with rice rolls. I felt that the glutinous rice in lotus leaf and E-Fu noodle were both average.

It was such an average and disappointing meal that I would never think about returning again.

112 East Coast Road

Maekhong Thai Cuisine, Tanjong Katong Road

The last time I came by was about a year ago and I never got around to writing a review for that time. I can't remember why I neglected to do so but I highly suspect it had something to do with laziness. We were trying to decide on a place to eat and I suddenly thought of Maekhong Thai because the thai food was respectable and the prices were kind on the purse. And boy do I need to rein in my expenses on food. Every time I glance at my credit card bills, I will grimace helplessly at the amount of money I spend just on food. I hardly shop and all I do is EAT. 

So yes Maekhong Thai. It was a pretty hilarious night. The best friend forgot to alight at the bus stop and ended up on the expressway which took her all the way to Bugis instead. So she had to take the bus back to the Parkway area. As for me, I reached on time but I had a hard time trying to cross the street. I ended up taking a ten minute walk to the nearest traffic light to cross the road. 

I settled in and decided on the orders via whatsapp with her. We decided on a few dishes and I ordered once she told me she was in the area. Between the two of us we decided on Phad Thai, Pineapple Fried Rice, Tomyam Seafood Soup, and Fried Kangkong with Sambal. 

Phad Thai was not bad. Very sweet and smooth, not spicy, and with a generous amount of seafood. The seafood is really fresh and crunchy!

The tomyam soup was large! It came in a huge pot filled with various seafood like squid, prawns and fish and the tom yam soup was awesome! Sweet, sour and spicy all at once. I really like tom yam soup. It's definitely one of my favourite thai dishes.

Pineapple fried rice was average but I like it that they were very generous with the pineapple chunks added to the dish.

Maekhong Thai Cuisine is definitely not as awesome as Ah Loy Thai but it serves as a good place to have a casual after-work meal. It's satisfying, reasonably-priced, and not crowded so you can sit around for a nice chat after pigging out. 

266 Tanjong Katong Road

Doong Ji Korean Restaurant Part 2, Katong

The first time I went to Doong Ji, I had this huge seafood steamboat which I shared here. 

So recently the best friend had been addicted to the Running Man variety show so we decided to troop down to Doong Ji for more korean food. As a side note I am also really tickled by Running Man and it is really a joy to end every week with Running Man on TV on a Sunday evening. 

This time we decided to be more restrained so we ordered a bimbimbap, a silken tofu spicy soup, and a kimchi pancake. The bimbimbap was good! The meat was well-marinated, the servings of vegetables were generous and the sauce was yummy!

The spicy silken tofu soup was awesome. Full of flavors, thick, and really yummy! Not the usual watery fare you get from korean food stalls in the food court. The tofu was smooth and fresh. Probably one of the better silken tofu soups I've tried in Korean restaurants so far!

I forgot to take a picture of the kimchi pancake because I was just so engrossed in our conversation. Like really. I cannot recall what exactly we were chatting about at that point in time but I was definitely totally into the conversation. I do remember the kimchi pancake being pretty all right. Not fantastic but definitely still above average.

So we chatted on and on through the night and when we were about done, I had a sudden urge to have a drink. It always happens like this. I would get a random urge to have something, despite us both being super full and knowing well enough that we won't be able to stomach anymore food or drinks. I would convince her that the portions are manageable and we would be able to finish it. We would order and realize to our utmost astonishment that it was a huge portion and we would struggle to finish it.

This time was no different. We ordered rice wine and it came in a huge bowl. Complete with a ladle and two smaller bowls. I was shocked when it came but composed myself enough to scoop two full bowls and gave each other a toast. The rice wine was sweet and incredibly tasty. It was completely white, like soybean milk, and you can hardly taste the alcohol though we could definitely feel it. It took us the rest of the night to finish this bowl of rice wine.

222 East Coast Road

Doong Ji Korean Restaurant, Katong

Ahhhhhh rainy Saturday afternoon when I'm writing this post. This week has been interesting, but the weather has been so erratic. I hate the insanely hot mornings and rainy late afternoons. Why does it have to be so hot when I'm making my way to work??

Met up with Stef on Thursday and we decided to have korean food at Doong Ji along Katong. It is right beside Coriander and is a small little Korean Restaurant tucked away in the row of shop houses. The place was already quite crowded when I entered and I'm thankful Stef reached earlier to snag a table for us near the door. 

Our initial plan was to get a bibimbap and a soup to share. But just when we were about to order, we spied the steamboat sitting on the table at the back of the room and it looked so good! Hot soup in a big pot over a steady flame. We were debating whether we would be able to finish the whole pot by ourselves and whether it would be wiser to keep this option in view for the next time we head here with more people. But being the stubborn, ambitious, (and stupid) girl that I am, I declared loudly that we would definitely be able to finish it and somehow convinced Stef to go along with me. HAHA why do we always have to do insane stuff together?? But yes, so we ordered the Seafood Steamboat gleefully.

IT WAS HUGE. 

When it arrived, we started scooping it out happily, all the octopus, prawns, crab, tofu, rice cake, instant noodles and mushrooms. The soup was thick and rich, spicy and delicious, absorbing the essence from all the seafood soaked in it. The seafood was very fresh and sweet, and I was really impressed when we found a small crab inside the steamboat! 

The side dishes were good too. I was particularly fond of the potato chunks in dark sauce while Stef liked the vermicelli. 

We were so so so stuffed when we were about halfway through the steamboat. I felt so bloated and was very thankful that I wore a dress that day so there was no waist band cutting into my burgeoning belly. We had to pause for a bit to resume our chatting so that our food could digest a little more and we could accommodate more food afterwards. Eventually we decided that we could chew no more octopus so those were the first to be neglected. We strive to finish the prawns and crab so we did. 

Too much food gave me a sugar rush apparently, and I couldn't stop laughing about something (which I have cleanly forgotten what it was). It was a total seafood overload and oh my goodness, when I stumbled out of the shop, I cannot remember when was the last time I made such a bad decision in selecting my food. 

In any case, I had indigestion the next day and was very very fidgety at work the whole day because my stomach just felt so weird. Sigh. I've learnt my lesson - always order in moderation. Shucks. I should be more disciplined and less greedy.

Read about Part 2 of Doong Ji here. 

222 East Coast Road

Mookata Thai Bbq, Katong

This place has been along the Katong stretch since as long as I remember, and I always recall walking by when I meet my friends for dinner in the area. We have always wanted to try Mookata but there was always some reason that we were unable to do so, mostly because I was having a sore throat or something along those lines. Ended work late last Friday night and met up with the boyfriend much later than usual. We were deliberating where to head to for dinner and I suggested Mookata Thai Bbq at Katong because I did not want to travel too far.

We parked at Odeon Katong as we couldn't find any parking nearer to Mookata and took a quick stroll over. Mookata is opposite the relatively new I12 Katong, a few doors away from Astons. Despite the late hour, there was still a queue in front of the shop but we decided to join the queue anyway. Mostly because we were so hungry, we weren't hungry anymore so we were pretty all right with a short wait.

While we were in the queue, the waitress handed us a sheet and a pencil and told us to tick what we wanted. This was our first time here so we were unsure what to expect so we simply selected what we wanted. We did end up choosing quite a few items though, more than enough for two. 

The place was warm and stuffy as the heat from the charcoal pot filled the shop. You could practically feel the oil in the air and everything was kind of oily, from the table to the chair. Mookata did fix an exhaust above each table so that the oil can be rapidly removed but it did not help too much I guess.

After waiting a long while, we were served. The charcoal pot had a metal grill in the center surrounded by a moat of clear soup. This arrangement is really interesting because the oil and essence from the grilled meat simply flowed into the soup below. This made the soup very tasty but also very oily towards the end. We ordered lots of mushrooms, vegetables, pork belly, chicken thigh, fish and streaky bacon. I would highly recommend the pork belly because it was so well marinated and tender. The chicken thigh was really good too, soft and juicy. Grilling food over charcoal is indeed different from the usual electric grill because the charcoal just makes the food taste so much better!

Service was a little slow but a lady came by and apologized profusely about the slow pace halfway through our meal. Apparently her managers were not working that day, so they were a little short handed and everything was moving slower. 

Mookata was not exactly the cheapest option and we spent more than $60 for our selection of food. The food was good though so I did not really mind. We left the shop feeling really oily and sticky though so if you do intend to try Mookata, make sure you are not heading somewhere else after your meal and go straight home to bathe. 

103 East Coast Road