Park's Kitchen (Marina One)

Had been wanting to check out Park’s Kitchen for quite a long while — having first started as a stall within the canteen at SMU Connexion, it is noted that Park’s Kitchen was an establishment that had its focus on serving up “restaurant-quality” takeaway Korean-style rice bowls in its inception. For those whom are unaware, Park’s Kitchen is an establishment that is run by the same folks whom are behind Supergreen; an establishment they had recently been making an expansion at least within the Central Business District serving up salad bowls. Park’s Kitchen had found itself opening a larger outlet in the basement of Marina One and number of months ago — this also marks the first time that Park’s Kitchen became an independent eatery operating out of a space of its very own that is not part of a food hall. Occupying a shop unit that is around twice the side of that from the dining establishments situated around it, the Marina One location of Park’s Kitchen can be described as quick service eatery with a casual surrounding; the store being decked in yellow and blue that seems to be the colour theme that is adopted by the brand. With a much bigger space, Park’s Kitchen at Marina One offers a larger food menu; the menu comprises of sections dedicated to Mains, Stews, Combos, Ramyeon and Starters. Beverages available at Park’s Kitchen at Marina One includes Korean beverages like Grape Bongbong, Demi Soda, as well as alcoholic drinks like Soju, HITE beer and Maekgolli.

The availability of Stews in the menu of Park’s Kitchen at Marina One is pretty much of a smart decision — this is considering how they are located within the Central Business District in a complex that comprises of office towers; items like Stews would easily attract office crowds whom are looking to have something warm and comforting to have after sitting in an air-conditioned environment for the entire morning. Park’s Kitchen does offer a rather wide selection of Stews here at Marina One — this includes the Assorted Soondubu which comes with beef, clam, shrimp or squid, while there is also the Kimchi Soondubu that is marked as a “must-try!” item in the menu. What really caught our attention was the Ham & Cheese Soondubu however; something which does sound a little “cheap” considering the composition of ingredients here, though does sound like a rather uncommon offering around. Patrons do get a choice to indicate if they would like their Soondubu to be served “Original”, “Spicy” or “Very Spicy” here — our order wee for the “Spicy” variant. The “Ham” in its namesake was a little misleading; the “ham” actually refers to the luncheon meat included in the stew, while the cheese is that of typical processed cheese that one can readily find in supermarkets and predominantly used in Korean cuisine as well.

It was a little bit of a shame that the poached egg typically found in Soondubu elsewhere ends up being a fully-cooked one with the egg white encasing the solid yolk within — all else being said the stew itself was really flavourful being a little tangy and notably spicy. One might expect the Ham & Cheese Soondubu to be a little similar to the Korean Army Stew given the use of processed cheese and luncheon meat, though we would say that it still is pretty much more Soondubu at heart considering the lack of spicy bean paste and the stew still lacking of a density that would come with that of the Korean Army Stew. The level of spiciness here does do just about right for those whom are accustomed to moderate levels of spiciness for the Spicy variant; the added chilli padi adding on to the piquant spiciness already on its own. The stew works great especially with when had with the bowl to white rice on the side; definitely saw ourselves dousing the rice with all the stew which was pretty addictive. We liked how the texture of the Tofu was done here; smooth and silken without needing effort too break apart, while it also comes with slices of cucumber that provided a refreshing crunch whilst having absorbed the flavours of the stew. Some crumbs of minced meat can be found in the stew for an extra bite, while the luncheon meat was surprisingly not too loaded with sodium. The side dishes of Kimchi and Danmuji (yellow pickled radish) are pretty standard, though no doubt refreshing when all here too spicy. Overall, a pretty satisfying Soondubu item which was quite what we were craving for on the day of our visit. Prices of the food at Park’s Kitchen may not be deemed as wallet-friendly to some, considering the lowest-priced mains start at $10.90 – that being said, all of the dishes are priced comfortable below $20. We would think that we would return for a comforting bowl of Soondubu considering its vicinity to us when we are in the office; a spot which we would definitely keep in mind for a quick lunch!