With a name like ChineseBites, you'd think all of our meals would be of the Chinese variety. True, many have been, but there was an exception. Now make that 2 exceptions as we made our way to O Grill Yakiniku. Honestly, I wasn't even sure how to categorize the place as the menu featured items that were Korean, Japanese and Chinese. Whatever the case, most of the stuff would be grilled anyways, so I concluded it to be a catch-all Asian BBQ.
There I met up with the regulars including Alvin, Grace, Amy, Diana and Janice. The first thing I noticed about the place was the temperature. It was freakin' colder than one of Viv's stares when I insult her mother. We understood that the restaurant could get pretty warm due to the BBQs, but really, we were never warm ever during our meal. At the very least, it was somewhat alleviated by the pot of Chicken Soup at our disposal. It was hot, natural-tasting and not sodium-ladened. We got a few appies to start including the Chicken Nuggets, Fried Squid Tentacles, Sweet Potato Flour Balls and Mushrooms. I found the nuggets to be crunchy, firm and seasoned with wok salt. The squid was a bit chewy with only a mild amount of salt. The exterior was crunchy with a touch of grease. The sweet potato balls were glutinous and sweet with a light crunch. The mushrooms were buttery and really not all that interesting. Before starting up the BBQ, we were presented with the Ground Pork on Rice which featured a few slices of oshinko. Told you the food here was "Asian". The rice was nicely textured being chewy and slightly glutinous. The meat was somewhat moist, but otherwise pretty bland.
After firing up the BBQ (which too a few attempts), we were served the Premium Short Ribs sliced super thin. This way, it cooked really quickly. With Alvin doing the grilling (the rare times he cooks), it turned out really well being moist and flavourful from the fat. Next up was a selection including Corn, Beef Finger (meat between the ribs), Beef Toro and Pork Belly. The beef finger was pretty good being tender and meaty. It had a pronounced beef flavour as well. Curiously, the beef toro was tough and chewy despite being only lightly kissed on the grill. On the other hand, the belly was fatty and moist. Our second round of items included Rib Steak, Pork Jowl, Beef Tongue, Spicy Chicken & Basil Chicken. The small nuggets of rib steak were not bad being well-marbled. As per usual, the pork cheek was bouncy in texture with enough fat to provide flavour once grilled. The beef tongue was sliced a bit thin and cooked up quickly. Since there were raw and were not pre-cooked, they ended up to be a bit chewy with lots of meat resistance. The duo of chicken was pretty good where the spicy version was tender and mild. The basil chicken was unmistakable with a big herbal hit.
We also got a few Prawns and they were more or less standard rinsed frozen prawns. They did have a nice meaty snap though. Surprisingly, we were treated to 4 different types of dessert including a Custard with Strawberry Sauce, a Coconut Ice Cream, Almond Pudding and Mochi. The custard was somewhat like a softer panna cotta. The ice cream was ice cream, but give them kudos for dressing it up. Although it looked like creme caramel, the flower shaped pudding was almond. The only dessert worth talking about was the mochi. It was fantastic after being grilled and dipped into the condensed milk - slightly crisp on the outside and ooey gooey on the inside. As a whole, I was mostly indifferent. Not that anything was particularly bad, but nothing really stood out either. It was okay and in the words of Forrest Gump, "that's all I have to say about that...".
*All food and beverages were comped*
The Good:
- Diversity
- Meats were mostly okay
- Well-ventilated (albeit cold)
The Bad:
- It was cold
- Okay experience, but not overly impressive either
- Too many cuisines in one place?
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