Korean Grub

I had throughly enjoyed the fried chicken from Ahtti Korean so decided to try more of their non-chicken dishes. I settled for seafood pancake and soy bean paste soup with seafood. Big mistake. Huge. For starters, the soy bean paste soup was a dark murky unappetising shade of brown. No doubt it was chock full of shredded carrots and leeks; white tofu, clams, mussels and did I spy some tiny bits of webfoot octopus. But the soup itself was terribly salty to the point that it would be nearly impossible to finish it. The soup came in a set with two types of kimchi, pickles and brown rice. The latter was a strange addition as it just did not seem to belong in a Korean meal. Also if I wanted to eat healthy I would order from a salad shop haha. White rice would seem to be the natural choice here. The seafood pancake was equally lacklustre. I was filled with anticipation when I opened the box and saw small parcels of golden yellow deliciousness stacked in the box. And you could see bits of leek and carrot peeking out. Alas. Looks are deceptive. The pancake tasted extremely doughy and it just seemed like I was eating a whole load of pan fried parcels of flour with each mouthful. Not a pleasant thing and definitely not what I was expecting. The pancake was also terribly tasteless. All in all, it was a very underwhelming meal. I would definitely say stick to their chicken.

Impressed with the fried chicken repertoire at Ahtti Korean Chicken, I decided to try their newly added non-chicken dishes. I ordered the seafood soondubu and plain fried boneless chicken this time. The seafood soondubu was filled to the brim with mussels, clams, prawns, leeks, onions, zucchini, egg and egg tofu. I wished they had used plain tofu instead of egg tofu as it just didn’t taste as authentic with egg tofu which was obviously used to tweak to local tastebuds. I would also have appreciated if they had added kimchi to the soup or at least provided a side portion of it. Though it was very hearty as it also came with a portion of rice, the soondubu didn’t exactly satisfy due to the lack of kimchi, use of egg tofu and it was also rather salty. The plain fried chicken came with a ganjang dip and a spicy dip. I preferred the ganjang dip. Having tried all the flavours now, my go to fave would definitely be the Yangnyeom flavour. Now they just have to add other Korean staples like tteokbokki to their menu.

The Yangnyeom Boneless Chicken at Ahtti Korean Chicken thoroughly exceeded my expectations as it still retained its crispy coat despite being drenched in the sweet and spicy sauce. The generous chicken chunks were very juicy as usual. Out of the four flavours I have tried so far at Ahtti, Yangnyeom would be my go to flavour anytime.

After my rather pleasant encounter with the honey butter boneless chicken from Ahtti Korean Chicken, I decided to order the intriguingly named Chili Padi Boneless Chicken this time. Obviously created for local tastebuds, the glistening golden brown fried chicken was studded with a few thin slices of chili padi. This chili padi chicken did not taste as potent as its name suggested. This was probably due to the fact that the chicken was drenched in honey which helped to neutralise the heat from the chili padi.

I had a craving for Korean fried chicken and decided to order in Ahtti Korean Chicken, the new kid on the block located in Jurong. I opted for the Honey Butter Boneless Chicken (half chicken). I have never tried honey butter korean fried chicken before so didn’t quite know what to expect. My order came with nine pieces of fried chicken showered with honey butter powder seasoning. The chicken was not greasy at all though the crunchy batter was a little hard. The order also came with a big portion of pickled radish cubes which was a good idea as it helped to cut through the heatiness of the fried chicken.

It’s rare to find tungsuyuk, commonly known as Korea’s interpretation of sweet and sour pork in Singapore. So of course I had to order this when I chanced upon it at JoAH Korean Restaurant right in the heart of Raffles Place. The strips of pork were sinfully crispy and slathered in a tasty sauce and topped with shredded purple cabbage and carrot and black sesame seeds. I had also ordered seafood soondubu but I almost managed to polish off the entire plate of tungsuyuk... on my own. That’s how good this tungsuyuk is.

This sweet and savoury pizza is more like a snack than a meal unlike its Italian counterpart. The paper thin tortilla base was just slathered with a sweet and savoury garlic paste sans any other ingredients. Then you are supposed to fold the pizza slice and dip it in the accompanying whipped cream. Never liked whipped cream so I just ate the pizza on its own. It is a novel idea and I probably wouldn’t order this again but then it’s just me.

I really like Hoho Korean’s rendition of the seafood pancake. It is cooked till crispy and is studded with prawns, squid, clams albeit the tiny frozen types sold in the supermarkets. It is served with a killer umami dip topped with chives and sesame seeds. The pancake tends to be a little greasy but is soooo good I can finish the whole thing on my own in one sitting. Enough said.

Ordered the kimchi seafood fried rice, Kpop chicken and kimchi cheese pancake. Really enjoyed the kimchi seafood fried rice. The flavours were robust and the dish was chock full of fresh seafood. The Kpop chicken was relatively good too with big juicy chicken chunks in a crispy savoury batter. The disappointment was the kimchi cheese pancake as it was completely burnt on the bottom and the overall taste was lacklustre. The irony was it was supposed to be one of their signature dishes. Don’t expect home cooked authentic korean dishes here. The flavours were obviously tweaked with a modern influence.

The star of this dish are the avocado slices which have been deep fried in a crispy batter. The result is a crunchy exterior enveloping the creamy fruit. The steak itself is less memorable.

Hoho Korean at Sunset Way never fails to impress with its authentic home cooked Korean dishes. This seafood jjampong boasted incredibly fresh seafood with springy noodles. This bowl doesn’t come cheap though. It costs a whopping $28.