888 Mookata - Back again for the fresh and tasty food!

• Operating Hours: 5 PM to 2 AM
• Operating Days: Daily
• Address: Blk 212 Hougang Street 21 S(530212)

We came here just a month ago and now we are back again for more because we could not resist having their tasty and fresh food!

Check out https://goo.gl/WugRcs for my previous review of 888 Mookata.

This time, we came at near midnight, just to avoid the dinner crowd, and yes it was significantly lesser. We were served in less than 5 mins after we placed the order. There were quite a few differences since we came. 

This time we need to order and pay first before we wait for our food to arrive.

If you noticed, previously they using metal plates to hold the food, this time it's using a plastic plate, but no worry, the ingredient of the same quantity and most importantly the quality remains one of the top notched.

The meat still did not stick to the cooking plate, which is another good point.

So while we were cooking, we noticed something is missing from our vegetable basket - corns!

We did not know whether is it they left it out already altogether.

So 888 Mookata still one of my best mookata I've had, I could say people in future won't be going there because it was opened by Chew Chor Meng or Zhou Chong Qing, they will come just because it was that nice.

IT Roo - The Best Chicken Chop In Town?

• Operating Hours: 10 AM - 9.30 PM
• Operating Days: Daily
• Address: 17, Jalan Dhoby, Johor Bahru 80000

One of my comfort food that never fails, chicken chop.

IT Roo is one of the oldest established Hainanese restaurants in Johor Bahru. 

They were awarded “Best Chicken Chop in Malaysia” by The Star newspaper in 2003, hence their tagline “The Best Chicken Chop in Town”. Well, 2003 is very long time ago but with such reputation, we had to check it out.

It was air-conditioned indoor so it was still a pleasant place to dine under the very hot weather. The place is clean but the table a little small for normal dining.

Atmosphere was pretty nostalgic as there are photos and memorabilia from the past that takes you back in 1950s.

IT Roo serve zi char dishes as well, so if you’re not in western cuisine, you could try others. For chicken chop you could choose fried or grilled. The options for the sauce either mushroom or black pepper. 

Of course I ordered their signature fried chicken chop with mushroom sauce. The order was served fast, within 10 mins.

The portion was just nice, the Chicken Chop comes with mushroom gravy with few slice of button mushrooms, coleslaw, fried hand-cut potato wedges and slices of cucumber and tomato.

The potato wedges were not crispy but soggy kind.

It was made of boneless flattened chicken thigh meat that's crispy on the outside yet not overly oily, tender and juicy on the inside. The batter coating was just nice, not too heavily battered, it was crunchy to the bite. 

Mushroom sauce is mild and it does not do much to add any flavor to the chicken, even though it was supposed to be a mushroom sauce, it tasted rather a light chicken gravy with sliced mushrooms. In fact, I thought the chicken tasted good on its own without the gravy.

When sliced open, what you get is white and tender meat.

The food was not bad but I wouldn't say their chicken chop is the best in town.

Do note IT Roo is halal-certified and it charges 6% GST and 2 RM for the plate of peanuts on your table, you can return it when they served it to you.

Loong Fatt Cake 龍發蛋糕 - Not Only famous for Tau Sar Piah!

• Operating Hours: 8 AM - 4.30 PM
• Operating Days: Closed on Sundays
• Address: 639 Balestier Road, S 329922

My friend recommended me to also try their cakes after I have posted Loong Fatt Tau Sar Piah 龍發豆沙饼 post some time back. So here I am at this place again but this time, not only did I queued for their Tau Sar Piah, I also went to try their cake as well!

My previous review on Tau Sar Piah can be found here.

For your information, if you are not buying any Tau Sar Piah,  you do not need to follow the usual queue you will see when you enter the store. However, we queued up once again for their Tau Sar Piah because we simply can't resist the fragrance from the smell of the buttery crust.

The cakes on their display were very traditional looking, just like their Tau Sar Piah. It is similar to putting butter cake into a paper cup, just like how you would see it being displayed in a traditional nostalgic bakery shop when you were young. As there were quite a number of cakes to choose from, we decided to just get a few as we still have our Tau Sar Piah. 

We bought 2 types of paper cup cake - one topped with Almonds and the other topped with chocolate rice. The cake used is the same - it's only the topping that makes the difference.

The texture was soft, and it was light yet not crumbly when I took my first bite. The cake was considered dense yet the texture is smooth to the mouth. It was very well blended with eggs and a lot of butter, which we realized Loong Fatt emphasized a lot on the amount of butter used. A very good after meal snacks.

They only make these cakes limited each day, so do visit them before lunch hour ends to avoid disappointment. 

A "good" butter cake should be flavorful, yet not overly sweet, and somewhat dense in texture, keeping the moisture in the cake. The butter cake that I've tried was somewhat similar to this. This is a perfect match with a cup of morning coffee or tea.

Other than traditional cakes, Loong Fatt sells cream puffs too! Cream Puff is one of my favorite snacks when I was young, and when I took the first bite on the cream puff, my childhood memories immediately returned. The cream used was light and slightly towards a sweeter side, unlike the usual cream puff you would taste from the departmental store. It is not easy to find the same old taste as I can't really find them anymore (many traditional bakeries sell cream puff from factories). 

As you can see from the picture, the cream has a beautiful golden color, with its soft exterior filled with the cream which has a hinge of corn mixed with butter and egg. It was indeed a pleasant one mouth per piece snack.

Loong Fatt is indeed one of the places you have to visit to find back your childhood memory. Using the most traditional method to prepare their cakes and Tau Sar Piah, it is definitely a thumb up from me. What also impressed me was the sincerity from every worker to their lady boss-- they are always seen smiling to every customer despite their good business and the continuous long queue. This is definitely a shop that I will be sure to come back for more in future.