2 /5 M Wayang: You know that feeling when you want to root for the underdog? That’s me walking into Baba Chef. The place looks promising, nice setup, good energy, smells like someone’s auntie who really knows her wok hei. I sat down thinking, yes lah, hidden gem vibes incoming.
But alas, from the first bite, the dream started wobbling like overcooked calamari. The technique is there, you can tell the chef once trained under the gods of wok tossing, but somewhere along the way, the ingredients got lost in the frozen tundra of the restaurant’s freezer. Everything, from the sweet and sour pork to the wat tan hor to the fish fillet curry laksa, tasted like it had been preserved since the Ming Dynasty.
It’s like watching a technically perfect dance routine performed in slow motion, impressive yet emotionless. The texture? A symphony of rubber bands. Especially the seafood. The prawns looked back at me like, we’ve seen things you wouldn’t believe.
To be fair, the thicker spiced curries almost redeemed the experience. When the sauce is strong enough, it hides the trauma. You get that fleeting moment of “oh hey, not bad” before the chewiness returns like a jump scare.
So yes, Baba Chef, not entirely hopeless. You can taste the effort, you can sense the skill. But until someone liberates those ingredients from the icy abyss, the dishes will keep tasting like a flashback instead of a meal.