Located at Kensington Square, SMAC BBQ is a cosy Chinese BBQ skewers (串串) restaurant along Upper Paya Lebar Road. With the vibes of a Chinese restaurant, you’d be sure to find authentic Chinese BBQ cuisine here. If you’re a fan of the Chinese seasoning and cumin, it is a nice place to drop by with friends for lunch or dinner if you’re in the area.
The assorted skewers here were decent, with the prawns being really sweet and fresh. However, the other skewers had a tad too much cumin such that you’re only able to taste that and it didn’t really accent the taste of the meat. The beef was tender and soft but the pork was slightly on the tougher side. The skewers were decent for the price but would have expected more from the taste profile of the skewers.
The grilled eggplant is not grilled enough, with parts of the eggplant being slightly raw. The sauce that it was marinated with was good though, filled with minced garlic, chilli and spring onions. The eggplant wasn’t soft as we would have preferred but the sauce makes up for it. Personally would not prefer this style, and will probably give this a miss if we come back again.
The grilled enoki mushrooms were served on a plate wrapped in aluminium foil and the presentation of this dish could have been better. The enoki mushrooms were nicely marinated and cooked till soft. The enoki mushrooms tasted lightly salted but were soft and slimy. As a dish meant to go along with skewers, the soft and slimy version did not suit the other dishes we ordered.
The pork dumplings with cabbage were really juicy, with the skin not being too thick, and the meat being cooked well. When we took a bite, the dumplings still retained their juices within, allowing us to taste the sweetness of the cabbage and savour the blend of cabbage and pork within. The only drawback of the dumplings was the dumpling skin being thicker than the usual dumplings we were used to and required a bit more chewing.
The pork knuckles weren’t much to look at but they were soft and delicate. The meat came off the bones really easily and didn’t take much effort to consume. The dish served to satisfy our cravings with the only drawback being the amount of bones compared to the meat as the bones were almost half the dish.
We ended the meal with a balance of carbs, having some black bean noodles (炸酱面) to end off and to pair with the other skewers as well as sides. The noodles were springy and chewy, providing a good mouthfeel to go together with the black bean sauce. The cucumber served to satisfy our palate as it provides a clean and fresh taste to go together with the saltier black bean sauce. As a dish, it was well balanced and satisfying to have along with the beef and prawn skewers.
SMAC BBQ
SMAC BBQ was able to provide a decent meal here with the noodles, dumplings and skewers being the main highlights we had here. The other dishes did not seem to fit our palate as much but are in no means bad. Overall, this is a place that you may come by to grab a meal if you’re in the area and would like some simple Chinese skewers fare, but it won’t be a feasible place for you if you have to travel from afar just to try it.
SMAC BBQ
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📍 2 Jln Lokam, #01-54 Kensington Square, Singapore 537846
🕒 2 pm–2 am (Daily)
