The Place There is finally a hip dining spot in Hougang, or even in the North-East of Singapore. Meet Meat Market located at Hougang One, a casual meat concept which serves grilled meats over different types of wood on different months. The concept reminds me of Red Eye Smokehouse at Lavender, except that the space at Meat Market is more cluttered with more dining tables, with an open kitchen concept where you can actually watch all the action behind the kitchen. The interior is quite cosy and simple, decorated with industrial bulb lightings and dark wood tables with metal edges.

The Food Similar to Redeye Smokehouse, you get to customise your meat platter or there is also an option to go for the default combinations. Choose a base, meat, side and sauce and prices vary based on the type of meat. The wood used to grill the meats vary on different months, which lends different flavours to the meats.

The price range is quite reasonable, where an a la carte order of Chicken thigh or Fried dory fish is S$7.90, with the highest end Ribeye and Tenderloin at S$14.90. Each meat order gives you a complementary side dish like cheesy fried cauliflower or truffle fries, and a choice of sauce like black pepper, BBQ or salted egg, and more.

We chose the Chicken thigh (S$7.90), BBQ ribs (S$10.90) and Ribeye (S$14.90) along with three complementary sides and sauces. The best meat for me is surprisingly the chicken thigh. The chicken meat was tender and juicy which I enjoyed.

Unfortunately, both the BBQ ribs and Ribeye fell short of expectations. The BBQ ribs was too dry and bland in flavour, though the saving grace (or not) is that the portion is huge. That said, I can’t complain much for this huge portion at S$10.90.

The thinly sliced ribeye was dry as well. The texture was also on the tough end, while the flavour was very singular and bland. The sauces didn’t manage to savage the taste.

For the sides, we had the truffle fries, cheesy fried cauliflower and infinity twisties fries.

Rants We were told that our waiting time would be at least 20 minutes, though we ended up waiting for about 50 minutes before our meats were served. It has been awhile since we waited close to an hour for our food, which could be managed better by the staff.

Will I Return Again? I was very excited when I found out about Meat Market in Hougang as there is a serious lack of similar concepts in the heartlands. While the meats are average and a far cry from Redeye Smokehouse, it would probably still get the customers coming in given its very competitive pricing and the fact that there are no serious competition in the vicinity.

TheRantingPanda says:
Taste bud: 3/5
Hole in the pocket: 3/5
Ambience: 3/5
Overall Experience: 3/5

Meat Market
Hougang One
Hougang Street 91, #01-40
Singapore 538692
Tel: +65 6581 9080

Opening Hours
Monday to Sunday: 11.30am to 10pm

Ranted by The Ranter