SIN: Mouth Restaurant
One of the best carrot cakes I've had in Singapore!
Quite an interesting name for a restaurant, no? Derived from the Cantonese phrase tae mow tong, which are olden days HK street food stalls popular with labourers who were used to squatting while enjoying their meals, Mouth Restaurant has been around since 1988. The original restaurant used to be housed inside Chinatown Point.
It's said that the catalyst for the opening of Mouth Restaurant was the increasing number of HK immigrants who left the territory due to the then impending 1997 handover from the UK to China.
Appetiser & Chili
The braised peanuts were quite flavourful. While not too spicy, the chili had a nice tinge of sweetness.
Roast Pork Belly S$16.00
Taste: 8/10
Available only during lunch hours, the pork belly met my expectations. While each cube could potentially be juicier, it had a good proportion of meat and fats. The skin was adequately crispy as well. Served on the side was a serving of mustard, which was smooth and piquant enough to enjoy with the pork belly.
Sautéed Whole Prawn Balls in Cream of Chardonnay Sauce S$22.00
Taste: 8/10
Whenever I go to a Chinese restaurant, I can hardly resist the temptation of prawns. Chardonnay is a type of white wine made from a green-skinned grape variety. Nicely coating the bouncy prawns that were sitting on a bed of greens, the cream sauce infused with the said white wine was delectably sweet and rich.
Sautéed Carrot Cake Cubes in XO Sauce S$8.90
Taste: 9/10
To be frank, I'm actually not a big fan of Chinese style carrot cake, which is made of white radish and rice flour for the uninitiated. One of my BFFs said I ought to try Mouth Restaurant's version, and true enough, it was delicious. Tossed with XO sauce, an iconic HK condiment made of dried shrimps, scallops, shallots, garlic, chili and oil, it wasn't short of wok hey (lit. breath of the wok).
Beef Brisket Noodle (Soup) S$10.80
Taste: 7.5/10
In comparison to the other dishes sampled that afternoon, the weakest dish was the beef brisket noodle. Even then, it was by no means bad and certainly better than average. I was hoping for a richer broth, but the brisket was succulent. Besides that, the thin egg noodle was springy enough for my liking.
Fresh Mango Pudding S$4.50
Taste: 8.5/10
The restaurant prides itself in its mango pudding that's promised to be made from fresh honey mango and not some ready mango purée. You can probably tell from the photo that what I had that afternoon was silky smooth. Indeed it was, but there was also a nice bit of fibrous texture from the fruit. I felt that the level of sweetness was just right.
Melon's Rating
Taste: 8/10
Ambience: 8/10
Service: 8/10
Overall: 8/10
Don't forget to take a mouthful of the carrot cakes when you're around! Pika's advice: I know that Mouth Restaurant is the go-to place for dim sum for some people, so you may want to give it a try. The carrot cake is actually part of the dim sum menu.
Mouth Restaurant
38 Maxwell Road
#01-01/02 Airview Building
Singapore
(Mon-Fri: 11.30am - 3.00pm, 6.00pm - 10.00pm;
Sat-Sun: 10.00am - 4.30pm, 6.00pm - 10.00pm)
*Prices quoted are subject to 10% service charge and 7% GST.
Have a nice meal,
Cliff(y)
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