The dining scene is set to get cheesier.
Gooey melted cheese, usually associated with pizza, pasta and fondue, is stretching its way into steamboats, Korean barbecue hotplates and mookata, Thai-style barbecue steamboat.
At least eight restaurants have started offering melted cheese as a dip for meats and seafood. In restaurants serving cheesy Korean barbecues, the cheese is melted either on the grill or in a side compartment, while in mookata, it is placed in the soup trough around the dome-shaped grill.
Most of the restaurants use both mozzarella and cheddar cheeses for their dip. Mozzarella gets stretchy when melted but has a mild, milky flavour, while cheddar cheese is saltier and richer.
Here’s where to go when you’re craving a gooey cheese barbecue:
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What: Popular dishes include the Cheese Pork Spare Ribs Set A ($58 for two to three people), which has spare ribs with mozzarella and cheddar cheeses topped with shiitake mushrooms.
The Cheese Pork Spare Ribs Set B ($59 for two to three people) has sides such as tortilla chips, salsa and steamed egg. The spare ribs are marinated in a mix of fruit and gojuchang sauce before being char-grilled.
Where: 01-175 Goldhill Centre, 175 Thomson Road
Open: 11.30am to 2.30pm; 5.30 to 10.30pm daily
Info: Call 6258-1391 or go to www.facebook.com/NANTABBQ
What: Choose from about 30 raw ingredients, including crayfish, salmon, flower crabs and oysters. The grill has an outer trench for melted cheese. The buffet also includes cooked dishes such as Korean fried chicken.
Where: 01-75 Golden Mile Complex, 5001 Beach Road
Open: Noon to midnight daily
Info: Call 9056-8880 or go towww.facebook.com/Jackpotkbbq
Price: $37.90 a person
What: This Korean charcoal barbecue chain offers meats including galmaegisal (grilled pork skirt meat) and samgyeopsal (pork belly). The melted mozzarella is placed in a side compartment of the charcoal grill.
Where: 02-01 Plaza Singapura, 68 Orchard Road
Open: 11.30am to 10pm (Sunday to Thursday), 11.30am to 11pm (Friday and Saturday)
Info: Call 9181-2709 or go to www.seorae.com.sg
Price: From $59++ for a basic pork set for two people and an additional $2 for free flow of cheese. For a la carte meat orders, each serving of cheese costs $2.
What: This steamboat and barbecue buffet comes with a light cheese dip that is mixed with spices and a chicken-based stock. The cheese dip is kept warm in a water bath in the steamboat pot. The buffet includes more than 100 items such as crayfish, tiger prawns, mussels, shabu-shabu beef and free flow of cheese.
Where: 389 Changi Road
Open: 5pm to midnight (Tuesday to Sunday), closed on Monday
Info: Call 6844-0389 or go to www.facebook.com/hookonsteamboat
What:Choose between mookata and tom yum steamboat with melted cheese, which is placed in one of the soup troughs in the mookata pot. There is free flow of mozzarella or a secret blend of three cheeses.
On the buffet are more than 30 ingredients, including sea bass and pork collar.
For an additional charge, diners can opt for extras such as jumbo prawns ($1.90 each this month). The buffet also comes with dishes such as tom yum spaghetti.
Where: 644 Geylang Road, Lorong 40 Geylang
Open: 6pm to 2am daily
Info: Call 8444-4487 or go towww.facebook.com/ladyboysg
Price: $29.90 (Monday to Thursday); $32.90 (Friday to Sunday)
What: Tuck into more than 50 items, including crayfish, prawns, scallops and oysters, which you dip in melted cheese and satay sauce.
The cheese is in a compartment fitted in the trough of the mookata pot kept warm by the soup below.
Where: 02-01 Golden Mile Complex, 5001 Beach Road
Open: 3pm to 6am (Monday to Thursday), noon to 6am (Friday to Sunday)
Info: Call 8678-7876 or go to www.facebook.com/CheeseStoryMookata
Price: $29.90 (weekday), $32.90 (Friday and weekend)
What: The Cheese Mookata set (for two to three people) comes with more than 20 ingredients, such as prawns, squid, sausage, meats and vegetables. Instead of soup, the trough is filled with melted cheese.
Those who opt for the steamboat buffet (from $13.95 a person) can pay an additional $14.95 for a separate mookata pot filled with melted cheese.
Where: Three outlets including at B1-30 Nex, 23 Serangoon Central
Open: 11am to 10.30pm daily
Info: Call 6288-6260 or go to www.charcoalthai.com.sg
Price: $39.95 for the Cheese Mookata set
What: This six-year-old Thai barbecue chain has a Cheesy Grill set, which comprises ingredients such as baby back pork ribs, purple scallops, chicken thigh and bak kwa.
Customers can also top up $9.90++ for four crayfish, limited to one order for each set. Buffet customers (from $18.90++ a person) can pay an additional $3.50++ for a free flow of cheese.
Where: 02-53 Bugis Junction, 200 Victoria Street
Open: 11.30am to 10pm daily
Info: Call 6837-0171 or go to www.mookata.com
Price: From $57.90++ for the Cheesy Grill set which serves two to three people
What: This four-year-old mookata chain started offering cheese mookata in March this year. Besides containing tom yum and chicken stock, the pot also has a compartment for melted cheese.
There are more than 30 items, such as black pepper and garlic chicken, prawns and crayfish.
Where: Three outlets, including at 01-55D Golden Mile Tower, 6001 Beach Road
Open: Various times, go to www.facebook.com/happymookata1987
Price: From $25.90
Text: Kenneth Goh/Straits Times