Lavarock Thai BBQ Steamboat @ Hougang

Special thanks to James, Joan and their team for the kind hospitality! 

Lava Rock Holdings also has another concept under their group of eateries – not quite going the opposite way but it’s D-I-Y grill! Inspired by Mookata – Thai BBQ, they are definitely not the first to bring the concept to the market.



Their month long operations at the Hougang outlet has seen a steady stream of diners and they will be opening another outlet in the West. 

The concept is simple – two cooking options are available: teppanyaki and steamboat.

 

Melt the pork lard on the grill and pile on ingredients to grill.

There is a choice of broths for the meal –

Chicken Broth made from free range chickens is light, hearty and nutritious. MSG was hardly discernible and proved to be a great beverage for the meal!

Tom Yum Soup (supplement $3) also made from scratch, I’d say this is rather authentic though it ended up slightly thick and too rich towards the end. Of the two, this stood out stronger for taste and flavour.



Laying the meats out to grill, particularly loved the grill marks on the meat!



Upclose of the addictive.

The dipping sauce is where all magic starts – a combination of sesame oil, butter, garlic and chilli padi. The level of spiciness can be adjusted accordingly but what started out to be a gentle tasty sauce ended up being a flavourful and somewhat fiery sauce. Loved it! The companions wiped their dipping dishes clean.

Reminiscent of Thailand, I never understood why the food courts in Thailand bothered enough to provide these but useful much! The Thais have enough civic consciousness not to take the tissue dispenser lock stock barrel as would some of the Singaporeans would.

Each dinner set ordered according to the number of pax comes with a vegetable, meat and fried fish skin set.

Vegetable and Mushroom Basket

Cherry tomatoes, Kangkong, Eggs, Tung Hoon

Special mention goes to tung hoon which went really well with the tom yum broth!

Meat Combo Platter

Minced Chicken Ball

Minced chicken meat was furnished for scooping up to form our own chicken balls. Reminded me of how fishballs are made! Though a tad loose in terms of bite, this was actually pretty tasty.

Prawns

Fresh and deshelled, this brought back memories of the food trails in Bangkok that would always include seafood. I enjoyed watching my prawns curl up in delight – no bicarbonate used and sweet too!

Garlic Pork and Chicken

Despite using the same marinate, both were equally delicious. Lean cuts for both!

Liver

Generous portion served up but watching this cook is necessary as some of which ended up overcooked.

Squid

Grill is hardly complete without squid and these were bouncy!




Squeeze it like a toothpaste!

Fish Noodles

These are squeezed from the bag like toothpaste – I’m no fan of fish balls but this fish paste noodles are an exception. No fishy taste nor smell, I’d gladly eat a bowl of fish paste noodles!

I adore how each set is placed on a bed of cabbage which doubles up as a perfect vegetable soup towards the end!



Fried Tau Kee and Fish Skin Basket

Loved the fish skin best!

These are supplements to the set

Fried Fish Skin ($5)

There was hardly a trace of oily aftertaste in these freshly fried nibbles.




We were recommended to dip it in the soup for 3 seconds before consuming – second that recommendation! The flavours of the broth get soaked by the fish skin, delicious starter I say! The  same cannot be said of the beancurd skin though, it ended up being too soggy.

Marinated Beef ($10)

These sinewy pieces of red were tender and had the right amount of fat for each piece to be a slice of heaven – nearly! I never quite imagined saying this for steamboat or even hotplate – value for money! They were sold out on these for the night.

Last of all, we tossed all the cabbage used to line the plates into the hotpots for delicious vegetable stew. Yum!

Here's the proud boss, Mr James Ng, with his second food venture. All the best!

I am more than willing to wait for good food, certainly more than willing smelling like my food for good food. Here is Lava Rock fulfilling both.

$39 (2-3pax)
$49 (3-4pax)

Lavarock Thai BBQ Steamboat
Blk 681 Hougang Ave 8 #01-853

Their new outlet is opening at Blk 328 Clementi Ave 2 #01-220 on 8 December 2012!