Lobster, Oysters & A Talisker!

Found a little gem in Mad Charcoal located at an industrial estate. It does BBQ and grilled stuff. Its techniques are pretty good, although the butter and the oil aren't as ideal. But at these lower-than-town prices, there's really nothing to complain about. 

Lunch is way too hot and too far for us to get to Ang Mo Kio St 62 to eat these foods. Visiting for dinner on week days makes for a pleasant experience. There's Archipelago beer sold at the drinks stall, along with the usual array of soft drinks, but no soda water or sparkling water.

I love it that they offer small portions of food. Loads of meat to choose from. Sure, it's pricier than what a 'western food stall' at a kopitiam offers on the menu. But Mad Charcoal offers a higher quality of ingredients, cuts and cooking style. There's the option of half a rack of Kurobuta ribs, and also just a small regular portion of three ribs. That was manageable. The $30 Angus ribeye was nicely done medium as requested, and arrived sliced. They also offer lamb ribs, and sometimes on Fridays, there's lamb shank.

Carbs came in the form of pasta. They have two or three options of spaghetti with tomato gravy or cream and aglio e olio. The spaghetti aglio e olio could have been spicer and loaded with more garlic, but I think they're catering to a specific demographic of diners who prefer it done this way. It came with a poached egg. I like that! A poached egg can make up for many things! Heh.

For fish and seafood, they have oysters and mussels, and clams. Their oysters are kept in the cooler box and shucked fresh upon order. Of course there're prawns and crayfish. You might have to pre-order something. For fish, sometimes have stingray, shark, and depending on what they can get at the market that morning versus cost considerations, there would either be snapper or threadfin. 

We have tried a variety of fish, and they're pretty decent grilled. The pesto sauce was okay and kinda fun. Not the pungent type I expect. It was lighter but it works. The mash was a bit weird. It's creamy, but it felt more cream than potato. I think the butter used isn't that tasty, methinks.

That night, we ordered a small lobster for dinner. It came with a bit of roe! Heh. Lobsters need to be pre-ordered, but even so, they might not have stock, so it all depends on luck. The price depends on how big the lobster is, and of course the effort to cook. Ours was $70 that night. The only drawback, they layered gratin over the lobster. Like a lobster thermidor, I suppose. With lobsters this fresh, I like them better grilled with just garlic and onions. 

We brought a bottle of Talisker Dark Storm to dinner. I got it at the airport duty-free shops. It was an updated darker expression from the Talisker Storm that debuted in 2013. We hadn't tasted this newer expression, might as well do so tonight. Brought our own glasses and a small thermos flask as an 'ice bucket'; we also brought two bottles of Chang soda water because the drinks stall here doesn't sell it. This expression is big on the smoke, coffee and sweet pepper — a gorgeous representation of the Isle of Skye. It went well drizzled onto the raw oysters. The man loved the combination of the peat and brine.