I used to not understand what the charms of Lok Lok were.
That is, until my friend suggested we go to this place called AK Zai Lok Lok along Outram Road.
At first (in my usual fashion) I was a tad reluctant- like, why.. and was it worth traveling all the way there just for a couple of skewered sticks reminiscent of eating satay?
But they had a good deal, my friend said, so alrighty, we went.
You know what?
I've now completely changed my mind.
Not only that, for someone who doesn't usually have cravings of any kind, I've actually come to crave for those deep-fried, soup=dunked food skewered on wooden sticks too.
It's a little surprising.
Because, honestly, it's not quite the food that I am craving for.
Instead it is the experience that I wish to have- having been somewhat too spaced out the very first time I was there.
I was so out of it that I didn't get to take a good look at the ingredients in the chiller stacked up on the trays in their skewered wooden sticks,.
I also didn't think about what food I should take to dunk into my pot of tom yum soup already bubbling at the table.
Fortunately my dining companion was as enthusiastic as could be, and instructed me to not do anything but "just watch the pot, watch the sticks in the pot, and eat"
So I did.
Well, I tried.
I kept one eye on the sticks in the pot, arranging them in a criss-cross way so that they wouldn't sink and fall into the soup.
I also tried paying attention to what I was eating, practicing the art of mindfulness so that I would at least know what I was putting inside my mouth.
My friend, in charge of getting our food from the chiller, divided everything into two portions.
One portion we placed in the soup.
The other we gave to the kitchen to fry.
I can't really recall which were the skewers we let boil in the soup, but if I'm not wrong, I think there were sweet corn, some vegetables, cheese tofu, some of the usual hotpot stuff, and mushrooms.
Then for the fried stuff we had the luncheon meat, the little ham slices, the chicken nuggets, and the thinly sliced brinjals.
Think we did the same with the sausages too.
One thing about this meal that held special charm for me was the sauces.
I actually remember them better than I do the food.
Maybe because there wasn't just the satay peanut dipping sauce that's traditionally served with Lok Lok.
There was also the Thai sweet chili and an infused mentaiko mayonnaise too.
I took a fancy to the mayonnaise.
It went so well with everything- the bacon-wrapped thingy, the luncheon meat, the cheese tofu, the nuggets (of course) and even the tom yum-soaked brinjals which strong spice I'd wrongly assumed would've overwhelmed everything.
All in all we had a very lovely dinner.
I got to reminisce a little about the Lok Lok that I'd once had a long time ago at a dimly-lit street stall up in Penang.
I had fun.
And yep, it is this very same fun that I'm wanting to go back for the very next time.