What caught my eye was this homestyle Korean restaurant that was full of diners – both Koreans and locals. That’s a good sign, right?

So many banchan (side dishes)!

After placing my order, the complimentary banchan arrived quickly with a flourish. Dish after dish was plonked onto the table. I thought they made a mistake. All these for me??

Poached fish, slightly salted and topped with spicy dressing.

They even gave a whole fish! Well, it’s not a big fish, but still, it’s mighty generous for banchan.

Clockwise from one o'clock: kimchi pancake; fried anchovies; lettuce with sweet spicy dressing; fried tofu.

I thought it was a one-off thing, but a week later, I came back, and yes, they gave the same number of side dishes. Of all the Korean restaurants I’ve been to in Singapore, I think this place is one of the most generous with side dishes !

Soon dubu chigae (tofu stew), S$11.00.

The soon dubu chigae was a big, bubbling bowl (more like mini pot) of soft beancurd, egg, prawn, squid, clam, leeks, and some other ingredients I have trouble recalling. The soup was kick-ass spicy! Also, it was infused with the sweetness of the seafood and vegetables.

Advice: Fish the seafood out of the broth when it arrives, otherwise, it continues to cook in the hot clay bowl. Tough seafood isn’t nice to eat.

Steamed egg.

I think the steamed egg comes with the soon dubu chigae. It was quite tasteless, and the texture a little rough. So I scooped it into the hot, spicy stew broth. Mmm…much better!

On a separate visit, I had the dwenjang chigae (Korean bean paste stew). Yeah, dunno why I was in the mood for stew both times. The dwenjang was kinda blah; the soon dubu was definitely more worth it. But actually, I felt the banchan outshone the stews.

I should be checking this place out in the future. Prices are reasonable and there’s plenty more on the extensive menu to explore.

Young artist at work.

Wah...cheem!

Are they missing some letters?

Kim’s Family Restaurant
17 Lorong Kilat
#01-06
Singapore 598139
Tel: (65) 6465 0535

After dinner, I told Keropokman about my find (he lives nearby). He liked it so much he ate here 3 times in the same week! LOL

Check out his posts: Visit 1 and visit 2

On the hot grill: King prawn, spicy pork, and fish.

After discovering that we have quite a few common interests, one of them being crazy about anything Korean, Evan and I met up for a Korean feast!

Recently, CJ Korean (only the Centrepoint branch) has launched an Eat All You Can! ala carte and BBQ promo. With prices starting from
S$19.90++ per person for weekday lunch, we thought it was quite a bargain, considering BBQ normally costs at least $16.00 per meat item at Korean restaurants.

The raw meats.

Of course, for this price, don’t expect beef ribs! But the marinated sliced beef was quite tender and well-marinated. I didn’t enjoy the mutton so much, but the chicken and pork (both spicy and non-spicy versions) were delicious!

There was also seafood. The king prawn (limited to 1 per person) was sweet and crunchy. The fish and squid were decent too. However, I felt that, in general, the marinades tended to be more salty than sweet.

Chicken and bacon.

I was kinda peeved that fresh lettuce, garlic, and onion wasn’t provided. How could authentic Korean BBQ not have these items? We were told the vegetable set is available at an additional $5.00! What a rip-off!

Boiled Sliced Pork.

Oh well, we weren’t going to let this affect our good mood! The boiled sliced pork was alright, but this time, the bossam kimchi seemed to be lacking punch.

Fried Rice Flour Cake "Korean" Style = ddeok bok ki

The ddeok bok ki was delish! A popular street food, the chewy rice cake in the sweetish-spicy sauce tasted authentically yummy!

Seafood Pancake with Green Onion = haemul pajeon

This is another of my fav Korean dishes. These days, I don’t order this in restaurants, cos it’s so easy and cheap to make at home using premix!

But I remember having an excellent version of seafood pancake at the Ngee Ann City branch of CJ Korean. This time, it was a little stodgy and dry. Quite disappointing.

Sauteed Vermicelli "Korean" style = japchae

The japchae was another letdown. Lots of dang myun (sweet potato noodles) and not much ingredients, compared to the ala carte version I had before. Are they stinting because we’re having the buffet?

The side dishes.

Here are the usual side dishes. Flavors seemed to have been toned down to suit local palates not used to heavy Korean seasonings.

Coconut sago.

Koreans do not typically have dessert, what they do enjoy after meals is a platter of seasonal fresh fruit. The dessert selection for the buffet does include fruit, but only pathetic slices of watermelon and honeydew. There’s also red bean paste and coconut sago with watermelon, but they are awfully watered down, so please, don’t bother!

We also sampled the ginseng chicken soup (too diluted), dumpling soup (not bad), and grilled mackerel (ok). We skipped the rice and noodles cos we wanted to attack the BBQ selection. Hey, no point filling up on carbs, right?

Overall, I think the quality seems to have dropped. Don’t know if they cut corners because we ordered the buffet, or quality control is not as stringent as the Ngee Ann City branch. The service staff were efficient and polite.

Still, for those new to Korean cuisine, or those who aren’t used to the strong flavors of authentic Korean cooking, this buffet is an affordable option to sample different Korean dishes.

I think the weekday lunch (S$19.90++) and dinner (S$24.90++) pricing is still reasonable, but for the weekend dinner (S$29.90++), the price doesn’t justify the quality. For the complete pricing and menu, click on the thumbnail.

Crystal Jade Korean Ginseng Chicken & BBQ
176 Orchard Road
Centrepoint #04-13
Singapore 238843
Tel: 6737 3282

We were in Chinatown. Since we’ve been to Jangwon, we decided to try Togi, a homestyle Korean diner just diagonally across the street.

Banchan (side dishes).

As usual, I was looking forward to see what side dishes they’d serve. Clockwise from top left: spicy potatoes; spicy fried anchovies; garlic sprouts; spicy pickled cucumber and carrot (tasted similar as our local achar, but sans pineapple); the standard Chinese cabbage kimchi; and Korean fishcake.

Not bad, nothing wow, but very authentic and homey in taste. Hubby commented that the kimchi seems “watered down” to suit local palates. I agree. It also seems to have been sitting around for some time; a bit limp and not too fresh.

Gamja tang (potato and pork rib soup), S$35.00.

Tired of ordering the usual grilled meats and kimchi/bean paste stews, we tried the gamja tang (medium size), which was just the right amount for two hungry eaters to share. The pot is put on a gas burner to simmer away as you eat.

Close-up.

As the soup simmered to a stew, the meat and potato turned softer and more flavorful, but unfortunately, the pork rib wasn’t meltingly tender. Also, I detected a frozen pork taste. The soup was spicy, but not flavorsome enough.

Well, the friendly server did say that this is a new item on the menu, so maybe they still need to improve on their gamja tang recipe. Togi seems to be quite popular; by around 7pm, all tables were nearly filled.

Maybe we should have ordered the usual bibimbap, stews, and BBQ meats which are reasonably priced. The price we paid just didn’t seem to justify the quality of the food we had.

Total bill: S$42.90, including rice charge, and taxes.

Togi Korean Restaurant
11 Mosque Street
Singapore
Tel: 6221 0830

Mon-Sat: 12 to 2pm, 6 to 9pm

Bi bim = mix, myun = noodles.

We hardly eat instant noodles at home, keeping some packs only for emergency situations, but I must confess to having a soft spot for Korean instant ramyun.

Especially popular among Korean kids is this non-soupy, dry version. It’s a cold noodle dish — instant ramyun boiled, drained, cooled, and then dressed in sweet, vinegary gochujang (hot chilli paste).

Toppings are entirely optional, of course! I jazzed things up with fresh lettuce, tomatoes, ham, and omelette strips to make it a more wholesome and substantial meal. The noodles in the above photo look pale-ish cos I didn’t add the entire sauce pack in case it was too spicy, but later I added more.

Not bad, we liked it a lot! Very appetizing, especially on a hot day! Won’t be eating this often, though, cos processed foods are not so healthy.

Paldo bi bim myun.

Can’t remember the exact price, should range between S$1.50 to S$2.00, available at most Korean grocery stores. The apple image on the package says that there’s apple puree added to the sauce mix. Apparently, this Paldo brand is sweeter; another brand Samyang’s bi bim myun is spicier and more tangy.

The instructions on the package are in Korean, but I managed to find the cooking instructions on the manufacturer’s website, reproduced below:

1. Put the noodle & enclosed sachet into the boiling water(550cc).

5. Mix noodle with paste soup well and ready to serve.

Cold Korean spaghetti (S$7.80)

An Italian-inspired version of bibim myeon (mixed cold noodles), this dish substitutes thin, silky somen noodles with chewy spaghetti, an update that doesn’t quite work.

First, the key component here, the gochujang (chilli paste), wasn’t vinegary nor sweet enough. So I had to pile on the sauce, which meant everything kept getting spicier, but just not sour nor sweet enough. The balance of flavors was just not there!

Second, the dense spaghetti simply refused to soak up the sauce. Add the bland kimchi and shredded fresh vegetables, the whole dish, was frankly, quite tedious to chew through.

Another gripe: Noodles and veggies not cold enough. Yes, for cold noodles to work, everything has to be properly chilled so that the dish will be refreshing.

Kimchi mandoo (S$4.80)

At first bite, the steamed kimchi dumplings reminded me of xiao long bao. Very juicy and soupy indeed. The skin was quite soft too. But I thought they were too sour; have eaten other kimchi dumplings with a better balance of flavor. As a result, the accompanying vinegar and chilli powder dip was quite unnecessary.

Overall, a very unimpressive experience. Actually, both items were the chef’s recommendations on the menu. If so, I wonder what the non-recommended items would be like?

It was only later that I realized (from the business card) that Seoul Yummy is run by the same people behind Kim Dae Mun! The one at Meridien Hotel foodcourt is still my favorite. It’s run by the matriarch, and though prices have gone up, the portions are generous and the BBQ hotplates still fabulous as ever! I’d much rather go there anytime!

Total bill: Food + barley tea (S$1.20) + taxes = S$16.20

10 Sinaran Drive
#03-68, Square 2
(next to Novena Square)
Singapore 307506
Tel: (65) 6397 6939

After that, real life took over. Now, things are slowing down, and the tastebuds have returned (yay!). It’s good to be eating normally and blogging again.

*******************************************************

Ricky and I accidentally stumbled upon this cosy-looking Korean restaurant while looking for a place to have dinner in Chinatown. Literally translated as “top scholar”, Jang Won, an 8-month-old joint, is a relatively new kid on the block of Korean restaurants that have been mushrooming on our sunny shores.

Spread of drool-inducing banchan (side dishes).

It’s no secret that I’m fanatical over Korean food. The part that I most look forward to when eating in a Korean restaurant is the banchan. Other than the standard Chinese cabbage kimchi, the other items are constantly rotated, so you get a different combination of dishes each time.

I was pleasantly surprised at the number of banchan given at Jang Won. Seven! That’s the most I’ve come across so far. They were all very delicious, too.

Cucumber kimchi.

Crunchy, spicy, and refreshing.

Stewed potato.

Cooked in sweet soy sauce, the potato cubes disintegrated easily. Very more-ish.

Spicy cockles.

Ricky, the I’ve-had-my-hepatitis-jab-so-i’m-safe cockle lover, declared this his favorite of the lot.

Wakame seaweed.

This was light and crunchy. Served to balance out the spiciness of the other items.

Pan-fried beancurd.

Each beancurd piece was daintily dotted with a chilli-garlic topping.

Eomuk (fishcake).

Slices of fishcake were tossed in a dressing of sauces for extra flavor.

Kimchi.

Your standard Chinese cabbage kimchi.

Today’s combination of banchan was a wonderful myriad of flavors and textures, all complementing one another excellently. I could just feast on them alone!

Grilled fish (S$13.00).

Grilled mackerel on a hotplate, drizzled with some sweetish sauce. Dip in bean paste (in left corner) for extra saltiness. The fish was nothing spectacular, but it was nice and juicy.

Chicken galbi (S$18.00).

I was so looking forward to the chicken galbi. Literally meaning “ribs”, galbi was originally grilled beef short ribs, from which pork galbi and chicken galbi have evolved.

However, while beef galbi is sweet-savoury, chicken galbi is spicy. To prepare the latter, macerate chicken pieces (usually boneless) in a spicy marinade. To cook, place cut cabbage, sweet potato slices, tteok (Korean rice cake) slices, and marinated chicken on a grill or pan. Let everything cook, then toss to mix evenly towards the end.

Chicken galbi, up close.

Having had high hopes for the chicken galbi, I was a little disappointed. It was alright, but I couldn’t help comparing it to the superior version I’ve tasted at the home of a Korean friend’s. The jang (sauce/marinade) for the chicken, so crucial to the overall taste of this dish, was somehow lacking. Also, the sweet potato was M.I.A., and I could count the number of tteok slices with just one hand.

Still, the food was undoubtedly authentic. One might even say that the rough-around-the-edges quality was part of the homely charm. Indeed, half the restaurant was filled with Korean natives. Proof that the taste here is close to the real deal?

The side dishes come at no extra charge with the main courses. We were each charged S$1.50 for plain rice, which I thought was too pricey. The total bill was S$37.40, inclusive of 10% service charge.

Jang Won Korean Restaurant
44 Mosque Street #01-01
Singapore 059522
Tel: 6532 6949

cheers!

Unfortunately, the range is still limited. There’s a lot more to Korean food than bulgogi and BBQ meats! And only at the Korean restaurants can you get authentic-tasting cuisine; most of the foodcourt stalls are pathetic copycats.

Dolsot Bibimbap (S$8.80).

An exception is the food stall at Takashimaya Food Village. Run by the people of Manna Korean Restaurant (the owners are Korean natives) at Telok Ayer Street, the food here is of a higher standard, though in no way as good as that of the restaurant.

Spinach, beansprout, mushroom, carrot, and radish = healthy greens.

One of their bestsellers is the dolsot bibimbap. Dolsot is “stone pot”, while bibimbap is “mixed rice”. Bibimbap can be served in a normal bowl, but I prefer it in dolsot.

What happens is that they heat up the stone pot till really hot, then add rice and top with a raw egg, cooked vegetables, meat (omit for the vegetarian version), and gochujang (hot pepper paste). The hot dolsot forms a lovely rice crust, and as you mix everything up, the heat cooks the egg. Retaining its heat for ages, your rice stays piping hot till the end of the meal. Lovely!

I’m so happy I need only fork out S$8.80 here for a decent dolsot bibimbap instead of S$15.00++ for the same thing at a restaurant.

Notice something missing in the dolsot bibimbap? Yup, it’s gochujang. By the time I realized I had forgotten to add hot pepper paste, R and I had already scoffed down half the rice. No wonder it didn’t taste as shiok (local slang for “fantastic”). Both of us were too lazy to go back for it. Note to self: Next time, remember the gochujang!

Soup and side dishes for the bibimbap.

The dolsot bibimbap comes with a bowl of eggdrop soup and three banchan (side dishes) of Chinese cabbage kimchi, dried anchovies, and cucumber kimchi.

Dak Gom Tang (S$8.80).

I had not tried this on previous visits. Turned out to be shredded chicken with sweet potato vermicelli in broth. A very simple soup, the broth was light but flavorful. Gom tang is supposedly made by boiling beef brisket, bones, and tripe together for hours to produce a rich broth. I learnt later that Koreans usually eat this by mixing rice together with the soup.

The dak gom tang comes with a bowl of rice and side dishes. I thought it was unimpressive. Might probably yearn for this if I’m nursing a cold.

Manna also offers the stews, noodle dishes, and of course, the familiar hotplate meats and bulgogi. For the really good stuff, go to the full-service restaurant at Telok Ayer Street, where the service and quality of the food are notches higher, with corresponding prices to match.

Manna Korean Restaurant
(booth at Takashimaya Food Village)
391 Orchard Road
Basement 2
Singapore 238872

cheers!