I’ve always been a fan of ugly delicious food, and seeing their Moluccas Beef Ribs making its round on ig I was really excited to try it. I have to admit that it’s really really promising and the flavours pack a lot of punch, but there’re a couple of things in my books that made this fall short. First off, it could be a one-off I’m not sure cause everyone says otherwise but, our ribs were not fall-off-the-bone fork-tender melt-in-your-mouth kinda luscious (see how we needed a knife there). Which is how I like my ribs. It was flavourful for sure and I love that blackened spice crust on top, but the meat was too tough and chewy for me to yell a big hurrah. Next: I understand the need to speed things up with shortcuts in a fast-paced hawker setting, but that doesn’t mean I’d enjoy the results ie. the grainy, instant-mix kinda cold potato mash that came with the ribs. With how much effort’s placed into the meat, the subpar mash on the side was quite a letdown. And while I liked that they offered a light salad on the side, I’d rather they leave out the store bought Thai dressing which was way too sweet. Not the most balanced when seeing that the ribs also had a slightly sweet glaze. Sounds like there’re a lot of 🙅🏻‍♀️ here, but tbh the ideas behind this dish are fantastic, and I really believe a little refinement would take this a long way!