Chinatown Food Street now satisfies your cravings for steamboat and barbecue

As the year draws to a close, there’s nothing better than wrapping it up with some good food and company.

With Chinatown Food Street celebrating its reopening on Dec 1, we knew we could not miss, given the six new affordable steamboat and BBQ buffet options introduced. With a thematic ‘Always 99’ promotion ongoing, at $9.90 per pax, it felt like a ‘must-try’. 

Upon stepping out of Chinatown MRT, we were greeted with the sights of traditional shophouses, portable stalls selling trinkets and the sound of faint Christmas music in view of the festive season.

Thankfully, Chinatown Food Street was not far from the MRT station and was immediately recognisable by the chairs and tables neatly lined up along the pathway, as well as the traditional looking carts selling various kinds of food.

The smell of barbecued meats and ma la hotpot wafting through the air further elevated my excitement to quickly order and tuck into the food.

Out of the many different dishes available for order, we managed to get a taste of the scrumptious Mala Steamboat, Famous Eunos Bak Chor Mee, Chong Pang Huat BBQ chicken wings and Hong Dae KBBQ.

When it arrived, we were pretty impressed with the food’s quality especially when compared to its price point.

To start off, we had ordered a host of side dishes which included tteokbokki, kimchi pancakes, fried dumplings and more. While the tteokbokki was slightly tougher than usual, the sauce was great as it was mildly spicy and served well to whet the appetite.

As for the kimchi pancake, the crust was crispy and had the perfect flour-to-kimchi ratio. Taste-wise, it felt just a tad too sour. The kimchi by itself wasn’t bad but nothing about it struck me as anything special.

For fans of ma la, you can definitely satisfy your cravings here. The ma la hotpot was fragrant, spicy and had the numbing effect from the peppercorns that other ma la restaurants sometimes can’t deliver. As a rough gauge, those who usually order medium spiciness should find this to be quite a treat. 

While I enjoyed the ma la hotpot, it did have a salty aftertaste that threw me off a little. Those who do not enjoy the numbing aspect of ma la might want to proceed with caution due to its potency. Just be careful not to bite into too many peppercorn seeds.

Finally, the meat provided for the Korean barbecue was what really stood out to me. Although I don’t usually fancy chicken at Korean barbecues, I actually really enjoyed the ones served here.

All the different cuts of meat we ordered were juicy and extremely well marinated which made it easy to just keep eating. My personal favourites were the black pepper beef short rib and the spicy bulgogi chicken.

However, with how thinly most of the cuts are sliced, you should make sure to pay attention to your meat so you don’t accidentally burn half of your dinner. Unfortunately, I speak from experience.

Overall, we were very satisfied with the food and would definitely recommend anyone in the vicinity to give it a try!

Make sure to visit Chinatown Food Street while the thematic ‘Always 99’ promotions are still ongoing. 

For a limited time, the new steamboat and BBQ concepts go at $9.90 per pax to the first 30 customers daily from Dec 1 to Dec 6 during dinner times. Don’t miss out on this great deal!