No amount of good reviews could prepare us for the charcoal smell in the restaurant. When we walked out, we were mobile Korean BBQ restaurant.

The glowing reviews did not happen to us. To us, the food was hit and miss. The bone marrow ($25) came hot with a smoky aroma. My companion said, “Woah, I got 6 bone marrows for $4 at the shop below my block.” We dug the marrow, spread it on yakun-like toast, added caramelized onion, parley, and sea salt. It was like adding fat on bread. Delicious but extremely costly.

For the burgers, the cod fish burger ($26) was very savory. I didn’t know fish could be so tasty, juicy, and buttery. Although the bun looked deflated, the accompany lemon mayonnaise enhanced the burger with a great tanginess. The lobster sliders ($45, whole lobster 500gm) came cold. It was probably steamed, and quickly put in iced water to stop the cooking process. The flesh was very shiok and bouncy, but couldn’t they do something with the bun? The bun tasted and looked like hotdog buns you can buy in grocery stores. Same problem with the fries–felt like fries from Cold Storage that you can deep fry at home.

The rum banana pockets ($15) were sad, tasting like goreng pisang. And the rum-and-raisin ice cream tasted like a generic brand.

After reading so many good reviews, The Market Grill was both good and disappointing to us. Good because the fish burger lived up to its hype. Disappointing because (1) many items tasted like they can be bought in Cold Storage and deep-fried at home, and (2) the delicious items are expensive. Including 2 beers, we spent about $148 for two or about $75 for one. For such high cost, I’d expect they slice their own fries from potatoes.

The Market Grill Singapore

208 Telok Ayer St Singapore 068642
T: 6221 3323
M-Sat: 11.30am-2.30pm, 5-10pm

Rating: 3.188/5 stars

Written by A. Nathanael Ho.