Mookata probably was one of our most frequented celebratory meals when it came to the close of last year.
We didn't plan it.
It just happened.
Maybe because a couple of months ago we discovered a really good place with a really good attitude at a really good price.
Zenso at Sunshine Plaza is known for her Thai cuisine prepared in the Thai-Chinese style.
Her lunch set meals are popular with the millennial office crowd.
Her dinner offerings are great with tourists in the nearby hotels or the serviced apartments close by.
And her mookata sets have proven popular for groups big and small.
In the last couple of months we learnt to appreciate their mookata a little bit more.
Call me particular, but I don't like it much when the place is hot, stuffy and noisy without the semblance of a street-side stall.
And I like it even less when the uncooked food comes to you thrown together in a haphazard manner as if being presented without respect or thought.
Zenso does none of those.
Theirs comes in a prettily arranged IG-worthy tray.
And everything is neatly organized- marinated meats on this side, unmarinated meats on this side, seafood over here, processed balls and meats over there.
We've learnt to modulate our orders though.
Like today, where we decided to go straight for the set instead of having an extra appetizer of moo ping (which, in actual fact, they do rather good as well)
Meats being our thing, we chose the platter large enough for two.
This is one platter to go for if you're the sort who fancies variety.
Because it's not just beef or pork or chicken that you're getting.
You're getting dory fish, cuttlefish, prawns, lala clams, fish balls, sausage, crab sticks and cheese tofu too.
Then in another tray, you get a variety of cabbage, mushrooms, green leafy veggies, and corn.
We tend to throw most of the meats onto the grill.
But for variety I like to grill the prawns, the sausage and the crab sticks too.
It always surprises me how the most unexpected of foods turn out pretty well.
Like the crab sticks, which whilst I had thought might be tasteless turned out to be sweet with a hint of burnt grill feels.
And the prawns, which don't get hard and dry (as I initially thought they would) but get cooked into a sort of floury texture that is appetizing and particularly fun when eaten using the hands.
The cuttlefish, however, has to be gently monitored.
Some pieces, when placed on the grill, either become undercooked, or over.
I throw the undercooked ones into the moat to go into the soup.
The rest of the foods cook perfectly well.
Like the mama noodles that I break up into thirds and keep in the moat for the longest time.
Like the lala clams that I put in at first boil to sweeten the soup and add extra umami.
And the vegetables that I chuck into the moat and leave them be to turn all nice and soft and squishy.
One of our favorite (hotpot style) foods when it comes to mookata like this has to be the cheese tofu.
We don't grill it (although I wonder how it tastes like) but we let it stay in the pot until it gets all big and chubby and bursts out the cheese into your mouth at first bite.