Daebak!

Daebak!

Thanks to the K-wave and the deluge of K dramas, Korean eateries have been sprouting up all over Singapore like Korean roses. And of course, here are the joints that will make you go daebak!
Russell Leong
Russell Leong

When the craving for Korean cuisine hits, I find myself heading down to @ajummasg these days. All of their mains (bar one) are under twenty dollars, and they are quite massive meals on their own. I’ve had my eyes firmly fixed on their Crispy Samgyeopsal with Creamy Scrambled Eggs & Soy-Yujia Sauce ($15.90++) for a while, and I finally got myself a bowl of this long anticipated dish.⠀

For possibly the first time ever, the picture on the menu sold this dish short as the portion was gargantuan! Colossal cuts of pork belly (samgyeopsal) roast are mustered in orderly rows on a firmament of scrambled eggs over white rice, garnished simply with shredded seaweed & drizzles of that soy-yujia sauce. It’s a simple dish of just five elements, but it’s primally satisfying. The savoury roast pork boasts a colossally crunchy rind, and the meat is fairly juicy and well seasoned. The scrambled eggs are a little unevenly cooked, with some parts being more omelette than scrambled egg, but there’s nothing particularly egregious about the egg.⠀

The pork belly isn’t the most tender, and compounded with the tremendous thickness of each slice, the samgyeopsal can become a bit of a jaw workout. Still, it is far from being a dealbreaker, and the flavour of the roast pork belly will keep you powering through. At the end of the day, Ajumma’s doesn’t have the most stunning Korean fare out there, but they certainly maximise the return on your modest investment, and they’ll satisfy even the most avaricious of appetites.

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Authentic Korean fare in Fortune Centre? That’s right, The Asia 2019 Korean Food exists, and it’s run by an elderly couple in their sixties. Expect all the Korean staples like kimchi ramen and kimchi stew along with some other slightly less Korean dishes, like curry rice & udon. Their main calling seems to be grilled meat on a hotplate, and I got the Pork Belly Set ($15 nett).⠀

A decent portion of thinly sliced pork belly is stir fried with thinly sliced onions & leeks, served on a sizzling hotplate with the sauce served separately. The banchan (side dishes) are pretty decent, encompassing kimchi, beansprouts, pickled ginger and a fluffy omelette roll, and the set is completed with a bowl of white rice & soup. The pork & onions are competently caramelised, but the sauce on the side was the one that provided most of the flavour.⠀

The sauce was an interesting cross between black bean sauce and gochujang, resulting in a deeply savoury flavour, but had a touch of unpleasant bitterness. I can’t fathom why The Asia 2019 didn’t just stir fry the pork, leeks & onions in that superb sauce, as it would’ve resulted in much better flavour assimilation into the meat & veg, plus the bitter edge of the sauce would’ve been cooked out.⠀

The banchan was pretty decent, with the omelette roll being notably airy & bouncy. Although I’m not entirely convinced that this Pork Belly Set was fully worth fifteen bucks, my belly & hunger were fully satisfied.

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[SPONSORED POST]⠀

Looking for some greatly gratifying gyozas that are halal? Look no further than @gyozasan_singapore, which is Singapore’s first dedicated gyoza merchant that’s been halal certified. They’ve got seven unique gyoza varieties, and if you’re looking for a full meal, they’ve got ten Gyoza-Bento sets (G-Bentos) for you to select. Otherwise, they have six packs of gyozas, which seem like the perfect fit for a six pack of beer.

The six piece gyoza box I got was the Kimchi Gyoza ($6.50 nett), stuffed with the same tasty chicken filling as the Original, but now powered up with the inclusion of kimchi. While undoubtedly tasty, I do feel that Gyoza-San could be bolder with the spice & sourness of the kimchi in the dumpling.⠀

Gyoza are always easy to love, and Gyoza-San makes it even easier with their delicious Gyozas & Bentos. Thank you for the invite, @gyozasan_singapore & @scalemicroinfluencers!

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You don’t need to go to a Korean fried chicken restaurant to satisfy any KFC cravings you have anymore. Instead, drop by Jade Chicken at Ci Yuan Hawker Center for delicious Korean Fried Chicken that ain’t gonna break the bank.⠀

They prefer to sell their fried chicken whole or half ($28/$14.50 respectively), but they do have a couple of combos and sets, such as this here Two Piece Chicken Set for the low price of six dollars flat. Two pieces of fried chicken are thoroughly coated in your choice of Sweet Spicy, Soy, or Honey Butter, and complemented by a mound of plain white rice, fries & coleslaw. Honestly the fries weren’t sufficiently salted, and I didn’t really care for them.⠀

What I did care for were the two pieces of fried chicken. I had them coated in Sweet Spicy sauce, which is sticky, sweet and sufficiently spicy to set your tongue aflame. The fried chicken pieces managed to retain their juices within, and the large piece of fried chicken breast that I got was still sufficiently moist. The thin coating of batter that encases the chicken within was near flawless, striking that ideal balance of thin, light and tremendously crunchy. Despite being coated in the Sweet Spicy sauce, the batter held its crunch exceptionally well.⠀

The coleslaw was extra creamy, almost as if it was intended to combat the moderate spiciness of the Sweet Spicy sauce, and the rice…well, fried chicken & plain white rice is a pretty delish combo. Overall, at just six bucks a plate, I can’t really find fault with Jade Chicken’s birds.

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@bulgogisyo is the newest eatery to set up shop within the labyrinthine layout of Bugis Junction. What sets Bulgogi Syo apart from everyone else are their flamboyant flambés for certain menu items, all done table-side for you to capture for the ‘gram.⠀

My order of Pork Baby Back Ribs ($26.90++) was lit. No really, the ribs were doused in alcohol and lit ablaze, making for one hell of a culinary display and possibly some singed eyebrows. Fire show aside, these ribs were decently delicious. The ribs were moderately moist & tender as they were sous vide, and they were savoury due to the gochujang sauce slathered all over during the grilling process. The gochujang sauce imparted its savoury, spicy, sweet & gentle funkiness to the pork which separated cleanly from the bone. The carrots, green beans & pumpkin desperately needed oil on them to prevent burning, but the veg was still a nice, important touch.

You don’t just get these redolent ribs for twenty six dollars, oh no. Each order of baby back ribs comes with a bowl of stellar seaweed rice, which has been made utterly irresistible thanks to the addition of seaweed & sesame oil to the short grain rice, and access to the free flow banchan counter. Banchan (side dishes) are an integral component of Korean cuisine, and Bulgogi Syo definitely does it right. The stalwart kimchi is sour and appetising, the macaroni & potato salad was inexplicably addictive & tasty, and the spicy cherry tomatoes were an absolute treat. Oh, did I mention that the banchan was self service & free flow?⠀

While the service was friendly and helpful despite being utterly overwhelmed on Saturday evening, top management badly needs to reorganise staff deployment. Tables were cleaned & cleared remarkably quickly, and food was served promptly, but there was simply no one available to usher diners to awaiting tables. As such, everyone there ended up waiting more than half an hour to be shown to a table that had been available for at least fifteen minutes.⠀

I really enjoyed the food at @bulgogisyo, so I’ll probably wait a couple of months for things to get more organised before I make a return visit.

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It’s nearly impossible to go wrong with anything kimchi, and @ajummasg Kimchi Pork Stew ($15.90++) is more proof of that. Ajumma’s has been around since 2014, but it’s only recently, when they opened shop in PLQ Mall, that I’ve sampled their food.⠀

Like the restaurant’s name suggests, this Kimchi Pork Stew feels & tastes like your favourite kindly aunt cooked this for you in her kitchen. A vibrant spicy & sour kimchi infused pork broth conceals its bounty of sliced pork belly, tofu, mushrooms and more kimchi. Ajumma’s really puts in effort to make that sixteen-ish bucks feel worth it by loading a copious portion of pork belly & tofu into the soup, plus you get four different but equally tasty banchan (side dishes).⠀

The kimchi infused pork broth was the only source of flavour for everything in the screaming hot bowl, and this is where the broth shines. The combination of the robust, thick pork broth and the spicy & sour kimchi results in a deep, multilayered and incredibly satisfying stew. The kimchi pork broth is salty, sour, slightly spicy and it stimulates appetites like nothing else. Better yet, it has more than enough flavours to donate to the pork belly, tofu and other veg floating in it and to spare. Even if you aren’t hungry, you will find yourself compelled to drain every last drop of it. Come to think of it, the Kimchi Pork Stew would also work wonders as a hangover meal.⠀

Ajumma’s may look like any other fast casual Korean restaurant, but their homely & hearty food feels like a warm hug from grandma.

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Kimchi is nice and all, but what if we, oh I dunno, upgraded it? Say we put beaten eggs, a batter mix of rice & wheat flour, and kimchi together and panfried it all? That’s right, kimchi pancakes are a terrific thing, and they’re the only acceptable form of carbs to have at a Korean BBQ.⠀

@mannakoreasg Kimchi Jeon ($17.80++) is every bit as fantastic as any other Korean restaurant worth their kimchi. The thickness of the batter is perfectly balanced as all things should be, providing just enough sponginess to satisfy your jaw while being thin enough to avoid becoming a grease sponge. ⠀

The starchy bits are regularly interspersed with bits of kimchi, delivering zaps of crunchy sourness that cuts right through the greasy, meaty haze of your meal. The edges are crisped up real good too for some delightful textural variation, an important but often overlooked factor for any food item.⠀

When you go for a spot of Korean BBQ at Manna, you can have your pancake and eat it too.

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I’m kind of miffed that the Samgyeopsal ($26.80++) at @mannakoreasg was served to us still somewhat frozen. C’mon man, we’re already doing all the cooking, at least defrost the pork belly all the way through before serving it.⠀

However, the Jumulug, which is marinated beef sirloin ($40.80++), fared a whole lot better. Firstly, it’s properly thawed, so that’s nice, and secondly, the beef is remarkably well marbled, with stunning streaks of fat meandering through the sirloin. These sirloin slices are marinated in a soy sauce based marinade that’s simple yet sapid. The marinade adds salinity to the beef, accentuating the beefy, meaty flavours that everyone loves beef for. The sirloin, as you might’ve guessed, is sublimely tender after a stint on the grill and will melt in your mouth ever so slowly.⠀

I’d definitely recommend getting all the beef at Manna, and skipping the un-marinated pork belly. They may not treat the porcine right, but they do right by the bovine because they don’t want any beef.

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Beef is always a must at any Korean barbecue, and @mannakoreasg Wang Saeng Kalbi ($42.80++ for a whole slab) is no exception to that rule. It’s a whole slab of marinated beef short ribs that certainly wasn’t short on flavour.⠀

As you can see, this beef is decent quality bovine with a respectable amount of fat marbling running through the ribs. Fat is flavour, and when coupled with the ample soy based marinade, this felicitously fatty & tremendously tender beef was such a decadent delight to devour. As you’re the grillmaster, you control the doneness of the Kalbi, but I’d definitely recommend getting it to a medium doneness to get the most flavour out of the fat while keeping the beef juicy.⠀

Pop it onto a lettuce leaf with some rice, some kimchi and beansprouts from the banchan smorgasbord served to your table, and season the beef even more with a dab of gochujang, then roll it all up. I love rolling up that good good, and you will too.

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Hawker food is evolving, gentlemen, and we get to be here to witness it. Yes, we still get the beloved staples of chicken rice, char kway teow & satay, but we now have Korean classics like bibimbap reimagined in a food court.⠀

@kimchixpress.sg has a stall in the food court on level 4 of PLQ Mall. Their party trick is that they do bibimbap, but in the familiar format of the now ubiquitous grain/salad bowl. A base of either regular short grain white rice or brown rice can be topped with a choice of protein and up to three veggies for $8.90.

The stewed kimchi pork shabu shabu is my flavour of choice, and even though they’re rather miserly with the proteins, they are more than charitable with the vegetables. Top hits includes the mouthwatering sliced ‘shrooms, the scintillating kimchi, the gochujang powered chives, and the beansprouts. Combine all that with a bed of rice in a hellishly hot stone bowl, and oh yeah, it’s all coming together.⠀

Korean food as hawker food? The future is now, old man.

Loving @walkingonsunshine.cafe yangnyeom sauce fried chicken ($23.50 before GST) was red. Or was it rad? I don’t remember. But yes, their fried chicken with yangnyeom sauce was a beauty. Random fact of the day: yangnyeom is simply Korean for ‘seasoned’. Seasoned sauce chicken? Eh, if it works it works, y’know what I mean?

While @walkingonsunshine.cafe fried chicken was a red hot beauty, beauty is only skin deep. Unfortunately so. The sauce was mildly spicy, sticky, sweet and oh-so-sapid in all the right proportions, and the skin was beautifully blistered & charmingly crispy. It’s just that the meat beneath was overcooked and dry.⠀

The red flags started going up as I bit into the meat from the thigh cut and found myself with a mouthful of dry, over fried poultry. If the thigh is overcooked, then it’s pretty much game over for the rest of the bird. It was such a shame too, as virtually everything else from the sauce to the skin to the sides were positively perfect. The pickled carrots & cucumber, as well as the pickled radish on the side, were the best supporting cast anyone could hope for.

Fortunately the fix is easy: just fry the chicken about three to five minutes less. That’s it. That’s all that’s needed for perfect poultry. At $23.50 before GST for a whole fried bird, this gives you a princely return on your investment. Especially considering the neighbourhood, and all the other restaurants around. Once @walkingonsunshine.cafe has upped its chicken game, it’s gonna paint the town red.

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@walkingonsunshine.cafe ran out of seafood pancakes the night I went, so I settled for their $10 (before gst) kimchi pancake. Well, settled is a really harsh way to describe it given just how delicious it was.⠀

Make no mistake, that pancake is thoroughly infused with the essence of gochujang. Plus, there is an abundance of cabbage strips within to double confirm the presence of kimchi in the pancake, and for a little added crunch. To top it all off, there’s corn hiding somewhere in that pancake, so expect a crunchy & mildly sweet burst every now and then.

Do note that it’s a lot fatter & starchier than the standard kimchi pancake from any other Korean eatery you might be used to. Don’t make the same rookie mistake I did, and order it thinking that it’s gonna be a nice, light side dish. Boy was I wrong!⠀

You know what’s odd? @walkingonsunshine.cafe kimchi pancake is a perfect fit in their $10 bar bites menu. Oh wow, what a coincidence! That ties in perfectly with their twenty dollar free flow (!!!) beer fresh from the tap promo, which runs from noon till nine thirty DAILY. That’s right, 1200 till 2130 EVERY DAY. Somebody hold me right now, cause imma flop on the floor like I’m a pancake. A hot, delicious kimchi pancake. Mmm-mm.

Alcohol may not be good for my body, but my body is good for alcohol. Insta: @okwhotookmyusername

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