All Day Mookrata, Everyday Mookrata: A Korean BBQ & Chinese Hotpot Love Story

I can’t believe that I had lived 32 years of my life never having heard of mookrata (also known as ‘mu kratha’). I love Korean BBQ. I love Chinese hotpot. I love Japanese motsunabe. Mix them all together and you have an unrivaled Frankenstein’s monster of flavor (and fun) that the villagers aren’t chasing out of the village with pitchforks.

Instead, they’re cozying up to this gastronomic monster, giving it the love that Victor never did.

So, you can bet I was in for a huge surprise after being recommended a popular mookrata haunt not far from the eastern bank of the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok – Everyday Moo Krata & Cafe. “Like a virgin, grilling for the very first time.” Plus, I went with one of my best roll-dawgs which is how mookrata should be enjoyed. 

If you are in Bangkok (or Thailand) and looking for a social, casual, cultural staple and meat extravaganza (one friend told me it’s a popular date activity for Thais), there are about 1,000 reasons why Everyday Moo Krata should be on your bucket list. I’ll try to get into the core pillars below.

Oh, and they have makgeolli too. 

Do You Think Your Mookrata Sword Can Defeat Me?

I’m sure this header makes zero sense as I am listening to ‘36 Chambers’ by the ‘Wu-Tang Clan’, one of my absolute favorite albums and peak 90s hip hop and it has me very pumped on two things: (1) 80s Hong Kong kung fu movies, and (2) meat. 

Sometimes a song evokes a smell, a feeling, or a memory. For me, it conjures up blasting ‘Bring Da Ruckus’ (on ‘36 Chambers’) on my crappy Samsung phone while riding in the back of a tuk-tuk with my top roll-dawg on the way to mookrata. As you may have read in other Bangkok posts on this site, I was deep in the walking game for my one-month stint in Bangkok. 

However, this was a special night when it just wasn’t in the cards to walk. I had to accompany my buddy to pick up a bath bomb for his girlfriend (which he ultimately ended up clogging the drain at a Park Hyatt and flooding the bathroom with) and by the time we had finished, I was too disoriented from aromatic oils and cherry-scented loofahs to know which way was up.

Website, Address, & Details: https://www.instagram.com/everyday.bangkok/ 

• Hours: 1:30 PM – 12 AM, 7 Days a Week
• Address: 6 Naradhiwas Rajanagarindra Rd, Suriya Wong, Bang Rak, Bangkok 10500, Thailand

I would be remiss not to mention that there is also an Everyday Moo Krata location right along the Chao Phraya River called ‘Everyday Moo Krata Riverside’. As this Big Body loves being down by the water, I would likely opt for this location next time I’m back in Bangkok. 

Everyday Mookrata “is a vibe” (that feels very cringeworthy to say but give me a break as I have been guilty-pleasure watching these British fitness influencers in Marbella and that’s all they ever say). It’s a multi-story al fresco restaurant that reminds me of one part Bavarian beer garden, with its communal, wood picnic tables seating hordes of booze-enthusiasts, one part Vietnamese BBQ joint (think 5KU if you have read any of my other posts) thanks to its ethereal lights and decorations, and one part neo art deco cafe, due to the minimalist, sleek, white interior.

Word on the street is that they also have live music some nights. Just another reason, among many, to love this place.

Although Everyday Mookrata is several floors and boasts ample seating, it is an absolute hotspot after work for all types so I would recommend either calling ahead to book for the weekend or turning up on a Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. From Thai construction workers to first dates all the way to this Big Body and his top dawg, Everyday Mookrata’s flowing booze, communal atmosphere, and affordable price point make it a must-go.

Arby’s…Everyday Mookrata: We Have the Meats

Before we dive in any further, here’s a picture of the palette enhancer – an ice-cold bottle (followed by many more) of Korean makgeolli, aka the ‘kitty milk’. 

I don’t think Arby’s can sue me for claiming that Everyday Moo Krata “has the meats” since there is nothing false about this statement. Mookrata is all the best parts of Korean BBQ and Chinese hotpot rolled into one. 

To paint a Van Gogh ‘Meaty Night’ for you visually, in front of you will sit a tabletop grill in the shape of a metallic dome, surrounded by a 360-degree moat of broth and vegetables. You’ll rub the top of the dome with pork fat to draw out the flavors of the assorted meat you order (beef, pork, chicken, seafood, all the above) and prevent it from sticking to the grill. The juices from your grilled meat will drip down into water or a lightly flavored broth, where your vegetables will absorb them.

Note the pork fat regally positioned at the top of the dome, looking out on its constituents with pride.

Is it a stew? Is it BBQ? Yes.

Mookrata is an amalgam of every communal Asian meal that you love, so much so that at times I was unsure of exactly what type of cuisine I was actually eating. It’s kind of like Mystique in X-men (played by Rebecca Romijn – formerly Stamos), a shapeshifting subspecies of mutants that mimics whatever is in sight.  

The beef and pork were both high-quality cuts (you can find everything from pork belly to wagyu here) and marinated appropriately. You can always kick it up a notch with their ‘suki’ sauce (nam chim suki), which is a traditional sweet and spicy chili concoction that will knock your socks off.

What isn’t pictured is the serving bowl where you transfer the broth and vegetables for a never-ending, nourishing, meat-infused stew. It really is no surprise that the longer you stay and eat, the more the complexity and the depth of the broth deepens. However, I should mention that no broth ever comes close to the 50-year-old beef broth I had at Wattana Panich over in Thong Lor. 

Classic Thai Favorites For Some Snackage

The buddy that I went with is the ultimate eating partner. We’ve both lived long-term (and simultaneously) in Taiwan and Vietnam and done month-long stints in Bangkok together, so we have had zero shortage of eating adventures. He is just as much an Augustus Gloop as I am, so whenever we embark on an Epicurean eating marathon, you can bet your bottom dollar there are appetizers.

It wouldn’t be Thailand without a papaya salad that stupefies the taste buds, catapulting them into a fugue state and left wondering why it was ordered in the first place – only to dive back in for another addictive bite (and another after that) and entering into a vicious, never-ending cycle.

Mookrata’s papaya salad was a celestial and sexually charged dance of flavors. The sweetness and slight tenderness of the papaya gyrated and shimmied with its tangy counterpart of lime juice and tamarind, while the milonguero (a veteran tango dancer) of the dish, the chili peppers, kicked things up a notch with a spicy, playful heat. Top it all off with a subtle crunch of peanuts and dried shrimp for depth, and you have the ultimate appetizer tango.

To be frank, I didn’t even realize fried chicken in Thailand was a thing. Living in Asia, you are never far from a newly emigrated white hipster from Brooklyn with a dreamcatcher or anchor tattoo and a penchant for oak milk lattes (nothing wrong with these as you’ll see in my other posts) declaring one of the fried chickens from triumvirate – Japan, Korea, or Taiwan – as the apex golden cluck-cluck 3000 – I do hate myself for altering the quote from ‘Call Her Daddy’ but I am captivated by hedonism and spectacle. 

I digress.

Thai fried chicken shouldn’t be slept on. While it’s no Bonchon (Korean fried chicken chain), I would offer it up as a formidable foe against Taiwanese and Japanese fried chicken. It’s juicy, coated in a light, crispy batter, and accompanied by the quintessential sweet and spicy Thai chili sauce that you can drink.

Look at how massive these fried squid rings are. As a born and bred New Englander, I carry my ‘fried seafood inspector badge’ with me at all points (provided to all New Englanders at birth). One of my biggest gripes back home is that about 50% of the time I am basically eating fried air. Give me more squid, or give me death. You won’t run into this issue at Everyday Mookrata.

The giant squid rings are well-seasoned, not overly chewy, and coated in a light, golden-brown batter that offers up a satisfying crunch. What I encountered with fried Thai foods is that they were not overly oily or heavy and didn’t end up throwing my stomach into a state of despair as many fried foods do. 

We blew threw two plates of these bad boys and I would have kept going if the meat didn’t come. Once again, the Thai chili sauce is served and should be utilized at all costs.

Pale Ale Travel Tip: If you are in Bangkok and looking for an absolute killer soft-shell crab curry, make sure to check out my article on ‘Northeast’ – a popular Thai restaurant located just south of Lumpini Park.

Can You Meat Me Halfway?

The total damage came to just under 3,000 baht for the meal, which works out to about USD 80. For two growing boys, a meal that lasted upwards of 3 hours, several meat platters and rounds of makgeolli, three plates of fried chicken, two plates of fried squid, and a papaya salad, that’s a pretty damn great deal. 

A warning – you will smell like BBQ after. But this is a preferred odor for me and if my future wife smelled like grilled Thai beef or pork belly, I would be the happiest man alive.

My only regret about mookrata is that I didn’t learn about it earlier in life. Also, I am beating myself up that I left it until my last few days in Bangkok to try. This really is one of those activities and local eating experiences that I recommend not missing. Get your hands a bit dirty. Spill some meat grease on that button-down of yours. Burn your arm on the metallic dome. Go with your crew of roll-dawgs or roll-dawgettes. 

To quote a shirt I saw on Amazon, “Meat is my therapy.” Now, get to the doc.

If you make your way to Everyday Mookrata, I’d love to hear about it in the comments or via email (info@palealetravel.com). 

Eat well everyone,

Big Body