Review: Mo Mo Paradise, Damansara Utama

My parents called me out for dinner on a lazy Sunday. Initial plan was to take them go to a Thai place in TTDI but father was complaining it was a little too far. I guess since they made it all the way from Klang to PJ, lets spare them any further traveling and head to Damansara Utama/Uptown instead.

 This newer steamboat place (compared to others in the vicinity) is upstairs and has both air-conditioned and outdoor dining area. For the love of God, please don't sit outside if you have just showered and don't intend to do so again after your meal especially on a hot day. I don't know if you will end up smelling like steamboat sitting inside but sitting outside with no air-conditioning over a hot pot on a typical Malaysian weather (read: hot) is certainly disastrous in ways more than one. So, don't bring your nicely made up date here for a date. Actually, don't bring your date to any steamboat joints because there is no place for ladylike and gentleness when eating steamboat. Not for me at least.

Typical of any buffets, customers are charged for food wastage. I wonder if anyone has ever had the misfortune.

The types of soup available.

Everybody gets their own pot. It's good as it is more hygienic (no sharing). It's bad less fun because steamboat is really about sharing and getting other people to cook for you and you enjoy the fruits of their labor. I guess this is a good concept for those who have communicable diseases or just eating out alone.

Top is tom yum while bottom is herbal soup. The former isn't very spicy while the latter wasn't very strong with herbal flavor. I suppose this is to enable the food to later cook and make the soup tastier.

Clear soup which was, uh, clear. It did taste similar to the herbal version. More room for improvisation as the meal goes along.

Sorry but I didn't take pictures of the spread because I was afraid the waiters would tell me off :( Have I ever been? No, but that's really because I don't want to risk it so didn't even bother to try. In this day and age, I'd like to think that business owners are more appreciative of people indirectly marketing their business instead of the olden days when some proprietors would stop you from taking pictures of their food/establishment, even going to the point of asking you to delete whatever you had taken for fear of their competitors imitating them. Imitation is perhaps not their best form of flattery but honestly, it is scary when someone starts to mimic you.

Like every other buffets, you get the usual processed meat balls. They weren't bad but they weren't exactly awesome. There is also fish and some other seafood.

The fish slices were not so bad, almost fresh and it was surprising to see razor clams in the spread that I knew I had to take some. Called tik tan in Cantonese, my fondest memory of them is stir fried in curry. You'd pick one up and suck them out in a go. Now you know why I don't do very well at being ladylike.

They also offer pretty good items e.g. clouds ear (very nourishing for the body), seaweed, squid and even century quails egg. I love quails egg. I love century eggs. Put them both together and my love skyrockets like the cholesterol in them.

Branding themselves as a shabu-shabu and teppanyaki joint, you can order grilled meat. It ranges from the usual chicken meat to the more unusual bak kwa. As someone who doesn't really fancy salty sweet Chinese dried meat, it was an interesting dish but didn't exactly send me over the moon. Overall, I found their grilled meat is nothing to shout about. Not very special. Or maybe this is what being a picky eater means. Nothing satisfies you. Much.

 Chicken teriyaki was fared slightly better but it would have been nicer if it was drier and marinated thoroughly. No complaints on the cooking style.

At RM 35 per pax, I was honestly expecting more. The food quality was just so-so. The freshness could have been better. The spread had few interesting items but not enough to make me want to come back. Even if they give senior citizen discounts (about 10-20% if my memory isn't moving into senior citizen stage: forgetful). Perhaps the main selling point is the availability of different soups and individual pots.